Origins of Data Center Alley in Northern Virginia

In this episode of Energy Unplugged, we are delighted to welcome Buddy Rizer, Executive Director for the Department of Economic Development in Loudoun County, Virginia, USA. He discusses data centre demand and its impact on power systems with our Head of USA East, Julia Hoos, and Zachary Edelen, Senior Associate in our Research team.

Buddy is largely credited as the architect of "Data Center Alley"—the world’s largest concentration of data centre load. He leads the agency responsible for encouraging growth and developing relationships with Loudoun’s business community. During his tenure, Buddy and his team have attracted more than $60 billion in new commercial investment and over 50,000 new jobs.

The main topics include the following:

• The future of data centre demand in terms of growth and its absorption by the system
• Increases in power prices and their impact on local data centres
• The feasibility of serving data centre demand with 100% green power, and the extent to which this is already happening

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