Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger has unveiled a plan to cover nearly 300,000 acres of land in the state with solar panels to power data centers. The proposal, detailed in her recent energy strategy document, would require an area equivalent to two counties and one city—specifically, Fairfax County, Arlington County, and the City of Alexandria combined.
According to the plan, Virginia’s solar capacity could increase by 10 times from its current level of 30,000 acres, requiring 277,000 additional acres at an estimated cost of $385 billion. The initiative targets brownfields and former mine lands first, with over 100,000 potential sites identified. However, even using all these areas would still necessitate 177,000 acres of land for solar installations.
State Senator Glen Sturtevant (R) criticized the plan as “more of a data center growth strategy disguised as an environmental initiative,” emphasizing that Virginia already hosts hundreds of data centers and is a global leader in this sector. He stated that the governor’s proposal lacks measures to curb data center expansion.
The plan has drawn attention to the growing waste issue associated with solar energy. Michael Shellenberger has reported on the toxic byproducts of decommissioned solar panels, including risks to groundwater and communities in developing nations that scavenge for recyclable materials. Recent analyses indicate that discarded solar panels could outweigh new units sold by 2035—a factor that may quadruple the long-term cost of solar energy production.