Balico, the Herndon-based company that wants to build a power plant and data center in Pittsylvania County, shared details about the project proposal at community outreach meetings this week.
The project’s fate seemed up in the air Wednesday night, after several board of supervisors members told the Danville Register & Bee that they would be voting against it.
Balico has not officially pulled the project, as the rezoning application is still up on the county’s website.
The page also advertises the Nov. 7 public hearing related to this application.
Matt Rowe, the economic development director for Pittsylvania County, had not responded to questions from Cardinal News as of Thursday afternoon.
Balico spokesperson Adriana Alegrett did respond to Cardinal inquiries. “There is a great deal of misinformation being spread about the project and its path forward,” she wrote. “Balico is not abandoning the project and will continue to work diligently to bring a world class data center campus to Pittsylvania County.”
The company held two meetings, in Chatham and in Java, to share information about the proposed project, which includes a 3,500-megawatt power plant that will power a data center campus.
Chatham residents at a community outreach meeting on Oct. 28 were the first members of the public to hear details about Balico’s proposed data center, which includes 84 individual data center buildings across 2,200 acres.
Two public meetings were hosted by Balico in advance of a Nov. 7 public hearing for a rezoning request necessary for the plant to be built.
A new power plant would fuel the data centers
Irfan Ali, managing member for Balico, said that the Mountain Valley Pipeline as a source of natural gas was a main reason for the company’s interest in the Pittsylvania County site.
Balico plans to use gas from the pipeline to fuel a power plant, which will then supply energy to the data center campus.
Data centers consume massive amounts of energy — about a quarter of Dominion Energy’s power now goes to data centers. And in Northern Virginia, which houses more data centers than anywhere else in the world, the electric grid is facing tremendous strain.
“The AI-driven data center industry is growing by leaps and bounds throughout the country, and what they’re missing at the moment is power,” Ali said.
Data centers are large warehouse buildings that house computers and networking equipment used to store and send data, usually on a large scale for businesses, military and governments. They also allow for fast and reliable connectivity for more everyday users who are texting, sending emails and using social media.
The county stands to “benefit uniquely” from this project, Ali said, because “this pipeline already is here. It doesn’t need permitting, it doesn’t need to go through any improvements or enhancements.”
Local jobs and tax revenue for the county
Ali said the project will bring economic benefits to Pittsylvania.
It will take about eight or nine years to build out the entire campus, he said, but after that, there will be about 700 new jobs created. These jobs will be high-paying, high-skill, IT jobs that focus on server repair and maintenance, he said.
Salaries for these workers will be between $150,000 and $200,000, Ali said, though this figure was scrutinized by residents.
Data center jobs do not require a specific degree, but employees do need certain training on how to repair and maintain servers, Ali said. Balico wants to create vocational schooling and training for county residents so that they will be eligible for these jobs, he said.
The county could also see $120 million per year in tax revenue on the machinery alone once the project is built out, Ali said.
“That doesn’t take into consideration the taxes on the real estate value,” he said. “As you can tell just from those numbers, it could be a transformative source of revenue for the county.”
Talk of economic benefits didn’t sway residents, who said that they don’t believe their communities will personally reap any benefits of the project.
“I feel like you are pilfering our county and you think we are a bunch of ignorant hicks and won’t see what’s going on,” said resident Joanne Roberts Locklair.
Residents said that they already have to deal with pipeline construction and solar farms and that they live in a rural area to avoid such projects.
Ali said that Balico has no plans to acquire more property for future developments, and he assured residents that this was not yet “a done deal.”
Residents worry about light, noise, traffic, aesthetics
He answered resident questions about traffic, noise and light pollution, property values, water consumption, aesthetics and environmental impacts.
A traffic impact analysis would not be required until a second phase of the project, Ali said, though he believes that there will be minimal traffic impact from the project. Most of the traffic will occur on internal roads within the data center campus, with cars only going in and out on rural roads when employees drive to and from work.
The project will also produce minimal light pollution and adhere to the county’s noise limit ordinance, which caps volume at 65 decibels at a project’s fenceline, Ali said.
In addition to energy usage, data centers are also large consumers of water, which is typically used to cool servers.
Ali and Hope said that newer cooling technology uses 90% less water and that the town of Chatham has a surplus of non-potable water that they may be able to use.
Residents also railed at Robert Tucker, vice chair of the board of supervisors and representative for the Banister district where the project is proposed, who attended the meeting.
“I know darn well that if our board of supervisors approves this, not one single one of them will be reelected again,” Locklair said, receiving applause from the room packed with over 100 residents.
There are other places that are better suited for data center development, she said.
Several residents questioned why this project wasn’t proposed for the Berry Hill megasite, a 3,000-plus acre shovel-ready site in the county.
Ali said that data center developments were prohibited at Berry Hill, and residents responded that the county should change that rule.
An outside company coming in to make money while disturbing the lifestyles of locals was another common sentiment among residents.
“I’m asking you, I’m not threatening, I’m asking please don’t do this to the residents of this county,” Locklair said. “You’re striving for additional money in your already wealthy pockets.”
The rezoning application for this project will make its way to the county Board of Supervisors for a final vote after the planning commission recommends approval or denial next week.
