Virginia Data Center WatchFor Virginia residents, first
What's being built in your locality?
Data centers, and the power lines, substations, water and permit decisions that come with them, across Virginia's 133 counties and independent cities. Plain-language project pages with every fact linked to a board or council record, state permit, company statement or news report, and labeled so you know which is which.
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The Register of Regulations published a final rule (9VAC5-50 Article 7, effective Nov 4, 2026) barring DEQ from permitting data center generator sets above Tier 4-equivalent emissions for permit applications on or after July 1, 2026. Source: register.dls.virginia.gov ↗
Free weekly digest
Email digest: not open yet
The free weekly email digest is not accepting signups yet, and we collect no email addresses on this site. Every locality and project page is free to read now.
Same-day alerts (Neighbor, planned at $4/mo) are not open yet.
About Virginia Data Center Watch
Virginia Data Center Watch is an independent website that tracks data center projects in Virginia and the power lines, substations, water deals, permits and zoning decisions that come with them, locality by locality. As of 2026-11-01 it covers 20 projects and 89 dated public records across 16 of Virginia's 133 localities; 65 of those records link directly to a government source. Coverage is still partial: the localities without activity listed here have not been audited yet, and a missing locality does not mean it has no data center activity. Every locality and project page is free to read with no account. How we verify: methodology.
Localities with activity
Each locality page lists projects, board and council actions and permits. The number is projects tracked.
Latest records
The newest dated actions and filings we've verified. 65 of 89 records link directly to an official government source.
Board unanimously denied the conditional use permit for the 72-acre Winchester Gateway data center campus in Kernstown; the Virginia Technology Park applicant, Equus Capital Partners, had withdrawn its application the week before (Winchester Star via NVDaily).
Source: nvdaily.com ↗County held a community data center forum at Brightpoint Community College's Chester campus; recording on the county's YouTube channel (county data centers page).
Source: chesterfield.gov ↗Board unanimously directed staff to stay engaged with the Spanberger administration on state data center rules, focusing on community benefit plans, communication with residents and energy affordability, with a report back within 120 days (FFXnow).
Source: ffxnow.com ↗Agenda item 14p, a resolution to pause Board consideration of legislative applications for data centers and substations for up to 12 months (effective date written as Sept 15, 2026), was removed from the Oct 20 business meeting agenda and deferred to Nov 17 to give the County Attorney time for more legal and fiscal analysis (Loudoun Now; county agenda item description).
Source: loudounnow.com ↗Piedmont Environmental Council posted a clip headlined 'Culpeper County Board reaches consensus: no more data centers' (Oct 16, 2026). [Unverified: only the headline was read; the underlying report and any Board action were not opened.]
Source: pecva.org ↗Board adopted a zoning text amendment 4-1 (Supervisor Culbertson dissenting) restricting new data centers to land zoned planned commercial industrial development (PCID, currently only the Vint Hill area), removing them as a permitted use in business park (BP) zones, requiring a special exception, closed-loop or air-cooled systems and underground power lines. Does not apply to the three projects already approved or in review in PCID, including operational OVHcloud (FauquierNow via WTOP).
Source: wtop.com ↗Board approved the Accokeek Center data campus rezoning (ordinance O26-16, to M-2 heavy industrial) 4-3 and the related electrical substation conditional use permit (R26-128) 4-3; two buildings totaling 590,000 sq ft on about 121 acres in the Falmouth District. A motion to delay to Oct 20 failed 5-2 (Potomac Local).
Source: potomaclocal.com ↗Scheduled: Board was set to receive County Attorney legal analysis on whether the 2025 grandfathering exceptions for pending administrative data center applications can be ended (per the Sept 16 release, which says at least 17 land use cases covering more than 11 million sq ft are grandfathered). [Unverified: the outcome of the Oct 6 item was not found.]
Source: loudoun.gov ↗How to read our labels
Every source carries one of four labels. Benefits and impacts are only stated when a source supports them, and they're attributed.
Government documents: Board of Supervisors and City Council agendas, minutes and ordinances, DEQ permits, SCC dockets, the Register of Regulations, General Assembly records, federal notices.
What a developer, utility or tenant says in its own announcement. Useful, but not independently verified.
Reporting by news outlets. We attribute figures to the outlet and prefer the underlying record when we can get it.
Other trackers and databases. Treated as leads, never as the only source for a fact.
What you can count on
Plain facts with receipts, and what an alert item looks like.
- Every fact links to its public sourceBoard and council records, state permits and rules, company statements and news, each labeled. 65 of 89 records link straight to a government source.
- No paywall on the factsEvery page is free to read. Paid plans are only planned and are not open.
- Free to read, no account neededEvery locality and project page is free. The free weekly digest, when it opens, needs only an email address.
- IndependentIndependent. Not affiliated with Data Center Watch or 10a Labs. Payment never buys coverage. Our promise.
Sample alert
New board of supervisors record · Prince William County
Upcoming deadline: under Sec. 32-509.03(2)(e) of Ordinance 26-67, the fifth eligibility criterion requires pending rezonings, special use permits, proffer amendments, substation reviews and site plans to be accepted within 90 days after adoption. Dec 21, 2026 is our calculation (Sept 22 plus 90 days); the county page states '90 days following ordinance adoption'. Confirm the exact date in the ordinance.
Planned
For journalists, officials, attorneys and industry
Paid plans are not open yet. We plan to offer statewide search, exports and early signals (rezonings, generator air permits, large-load filings). See the proposed plans.