Data Center Capital of the World A Strategy for a Changing Paradigm

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Loudoun County, Virginia:
Data Center Capital of the World
“A Strategy for a Changing Paradigm”
By
Ashburn Supervisor, Mike Turner
Loudoun County, VA Board of Supervisors
October 20, 2025 (Original Edition: July 1, 2024)
Author’s Preface
The opinions and recommendations in this paper represent those of the author alone and in no way represent those
of any other Board member, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors or Loudoun County Staff. Furthermore, these
opinions and recommendations have no legal authority nor are they in any way legally binding on any Loudoun
County employee.
Summary of Updates Since the October 1st Edition
• Revises emissions information for natural gas turbine Selective Catalytic Reduction
(SCR) systems. While SCR can reduce NOX by about 95% and CO by more than 85%, it
may actually increase PM2.5 emissions, depending upon engine tuning, and the turbine
produces CO2. The CO2 can only be reduced through Carbon Capture and Storage,
technology largely unproven at scale and not widely used.
Executive Summary (citations included in applicable main body text)
• Loudoun County, VA, and particularly “Data Center Alley” in eastern Loudoun, has the
highest concentration of data centers in the world with approximately 200 data centers
built and 117 in the development pipeline. There has not been a single day in 15 years
when a data center was not under construction in Loudoun County. We have more data
centers than the next six U.S. markets combined.
• Two source documents guide and regulate Loudoun County’s approval and placement
of data centers: the Comprehensive Plan and the Zoning Ordinance. The
Comprehensive Plan is a guide and details the Board of Supervisors’ vision for land
development over the next 20 years in the county. It is not legally binding. The Zoning
Ordinance provides the legal basis for the Comprehensive Plan and is legally binding.
Each parcel of land under the zoning ordinance allows certain types of development “by
right,” meaning such development does not need legislative approval from the county
Board of Supervisors. Much of Loudoun County’s data center development has been
“by right.”
• Key developmental milestones:
o Late 1990’s: U.S. government’s Advanced Research Project (ARPA) establishes
the Metropolitan Area Exchange-East (MAE-East) as a national internet hub.
Extensive underground fiber optic network is laid giving Loudoun County the
lowest (fastest) latency rates for moving data from point A to point B in the
world. This latency advantage exists to the present day and represents a
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