More than 70 data center buildings and a natural gas power plant could be built on 2,200 acres of land in Pittsylvania County, Virginia.
Few details about the project are known, but developer Balico LLC has applied for permission to rezone 47 parcels of land around Mill Creek Road in the county. The application says they will be used for a “natural gas power plant and data centers.”
Pittsylvania County Planning Commission will consider the request at a meeting on November 7. The land is currently zoned for residential suburban developments.
Planning documents show that the sprawling site will be filled with more than 70 data center buildings, each measuring 394,000 sq ft (36,605 sqm) in floor space and 40 ft in height. Technical specifications of the data halls have not been revealed.
The site would initially be home to 15 Mitsubishi FT8 Mobilepac mobile gas turbines, each generating 30MW power, giving a total of 450MW. The plan also shows a space for a permanent Mitsubishi M501JAC gas generator to be added as part of a “second phase.” It does not specify how many of these would be installed, but says the “stack” could reach a height of 187 ft, suggesting multiple machines could be housed there. Each of the turbines can generate 450MW.
Nearby, 13 acres on the site have been reserved for a switching yard and electrical substation, as well as a wastewater treatment facility.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 303-mile pipeline delivering natural gas produced in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations in the Atlantic Ocean, runs near to the site and is mentioned in the plans.
Little information about Balico LLC is available online. It appears that the company was behind a plan to build a 1.6GW natural gas power plant in Charles City County, Virginia.
The Chickahominy Power scheme was shelved in 2022, with its developer stating: “Unfortunately, opposition from outside interests and regulations, largely advanced by the renewable energy industry and state legislators that supported them, made it impossible to deliver natural gas to the site.”
An affiliated company, Chickahominy LLC, had been looking to construct a natural gas pipeline spanning six Virginia counties to supply the plant. However, regional grid operator PJM canceled an interconnection request from the company in 2022, citing a lack of progress in meeting development deadlines.
Such a large natural gas-powered project is likely to face considerable opposition from campaigners. While burning gas has a smaller carbon footprint than using fossil fuels such as coal, it is much more harmful to the environment than renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.
