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Fairfax to monitor JLARC, SEC work on data center energy and water reporting before adding county reporting duties
Summary
Staff recommended monitoring a JLARC study and State Corporation Commission activity on data center energy and water use rather than immediately imposing county-level reporting; board members agreed the state is best placed to collect and publish standardized data but asked staff to remain engaged.
Fairfax County staff told the legislative committee on Oct. 29 that the county should monitor state studies before adopting local reporting requirements for data center energy and water use.
Staff described an Environmental Quality Advisory Council proposal asking the General Assembly to require reporting of energy use, renewable energy share and water utilization by data centers and for that information to be posted publicly. The committee was told similar bills (including HB910 and HB116 introduced in 2022) either proposed state reporting to the Virginia Department of Energy or incentives contingent on efficiency metrics.
Because the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) is conducting a study and the State Corporation Commission (SCC) is reviewing interconnection and energy questions, staff recommended following those state processes. “The state, on the other hand, is… the best place to kind of receive this information and post it,” staff said, noting the county would face standardization, enforcement and data-collection challenges if required to compile and publish the metrics itself.
Board members agreed staff should be actively engaged in JLARC’s work and coordinate with neighboring jurisdictions to avoid inconsistent regulation. Supervisors also asked for technical clarifications, such as what a power-usage-effectiveness (PUE) score threshold (for example, ≤1.2) would mean in practice and what penalties would follow noncompliance. Supervisor Jimenez emphasized conflicting expert views on water use and pointed to Fairfax Water as a local data source.
Staff said JLARC will present its findings to the General Assembly in December, and the county will revisit any recommended legislation or bills that follow.
