Data centers are big business in Northern Virginia, but plans backed by Dominion Virginia Power for a nearly 500,000-square-foot center in Haymarket have residents asking one big question: Why here?
Dominion has proposed running a high-voltage power line to a planned substation south of John Marshall Highway and west of James Madison Highway in Prince William County. The power would serve an undisclosed high-tech client that wants to expand at 15505 John Marshall Highway.
Residents of Haymarket, which is west of Manassas National Battlefield Park, say they fear the project could substantially detract from their rural community by adding a network of unsightly, above-ground power lines. What’s more, many are asking why the undisclosed client — which is rumored to be Amazon Web Services — decided on a location without enough existing infrastructure. The residents have set up a website, protectpwc.org, to raise awareness of the project and plan a Jan. 6 town hall meeting at Battlefield High School.
“We feel like we have to bear the brunt of bringing power to Amazon,” said Haymarket resident Elena Schlossberg, who learned about the data center plans over the summer. “Nobody knew that Amazon was coming, and it’s a by-right piece of property so it’s a little bit hard for people to stay up to date.”
No one has officially confirmed that Amazon is the end user, though the company’s name has shown up in Haymarket and Prince William County planning documents. An article in the Prince William Times cited documents linking the proposed center to Amazon data center affiliate Vadata Inc. Amazon is also a major federal contractor and has a $600 million cloud-computing contract with the Central Intelligence Agency. Representatives from Amazon did not return an email seeking comment.
Adding more fuel to the Amazon fire is the company’s connections to Columbia developer Corporate Office Properties Trust, which owns a 236,000-square-foot building adjacent to the proposed data center that is leased to an undisclosed, investment-grade Fortune 500 company sources say is Amazon. COPT, which previously landed Amazon for a data center in Loudoun County, did not return a call seeking comment.
The property slated for development is owned by Midwood LLC, according to county land records. Midwood representatives could not be reached for comment.
Dominion has been working with the undisclosed client for more than a year, Dominion spokeswoman Le-Ha Anderson said. Anderson said Dominion’s existing network is not large enough to support the 100 megawatts of additional power needed and that Dominion has proposed the additional substation because it is required by law to provide power to users. The cost of the power line and substation is estimated at about $65 million, according to Dominion.
Anderson said Dominion plans to meet with stakeholders again before it submits an application to the Virginia State Corporation Commission, expected in the first quarter. Dominion has retained consultant Natural Resource Group to study its options, she said, and the application will include several potential routes.
“We are going to do our best to communicate often and thoroughly with businesses and other stakeholders interested in the process,” she said.
Still, residents say they have largely been kept in the dark about the project, which came to light earlier this year and has been the subject of town hall and public meetings. Schlossberg said she hopes Dominion comes up with a plan that minimizes the impact on Haymarket residents, possibly by burying the 230-kilovolt power line underground.
Republican state Del. Bob Marshall, whose district includes Haymarket, says there are more established data center markets closer to Manassas that would be far less disruptive. He said county officials have declined freedom of information requests to provide details on the project, including a site plan, citing confidentiality. Marshall criticized the county’s decision to court data center developers by allowing their uses by-right. He plans to introduce legislation in the coming session that would make it more difficult for data centers to be built outside of industrial areas and instead encourage them to be constructed only inside of power line corridors.
Citing confidentiality agreements, Prince William County Economic Development spokeswoman Ginny Person declined to comment. Officials from the county’s development department were unavailable for comment.
