Ever since the first murmurings that a data center would be built in the Roanoke Valley, residents have had lots of questions about the campus that Google plans to build in Botetourt County.
Cardinal News is working to provide answers to your questions, using information from the county, the Western Virginia Water Authority, public notices and interviews with involved parties.
We’ll continue to update this list with more answers as we receive more questions from readers, and as more information about Google’s project becomes available.
To submit a question, use this Google form:
Table of contents
The project
Q: Who owns the land? How big will the data center be?
A: On June 20, Google closed a $14 million deal with Botetourt County for 312 acres in Greenfield Industrial Park, where it plans to build a data center campus that will include three data centers, three substations, an office building, access roads, utilities, parking areas and stormwater management facilities, according to a March 10 Army Corps of Engineers notice soliciting public comment on the project.
Each of the three proposed data center buildings will cover about 300,000 square feet, the notice said.
The project will take most of the remaining available land at the 750-acre Greenfield center, which currently houses six other businesses and Botetourt County’s administrative offices.
The industrial park’s zoning was changed to allow data centers in November 2024.
Q: When is the work actually going to start?
A: Google said in late March that it hopes to break ground on the project this spring or summer. Amber Tillman, head of data center public affairs with Google, said in an interview that it takes 18 to 24 months to construct a data center, and that this project will be completed in phases as resources become available.
Google representatives did not respond to questions about when the company expects the first part of the project to come online.
Water
Q: Where is the water coming from?
A: The water, at least for the first stage of the project, will be pulled from Carvins Cove, one of the four reservoirs that supply Franklin, Botetourt and Roanoke counties; the city of Roanoke; and the towns of Boones Mill and Vinton with water through the Western Virginia Water Authority.
Botetourt County and Google both said they have committed to financing long-range water supply studies that the water authority would conduct, and to explore options such as additional water sources and water reuse.
Q: Why does the project need water? Are there other options?
A: Data centers use water to cool their equipment. Some data centers use non-potable water, and air can also be used as an alternative — although Mac Scothorn, chairman of the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors, said cooling by air can be noisier than by water.
Tillman said that Google will do what is most energy efficient as far as cooling equipment.
The water available at the site contains a low level of total dissolved solids, meaning that it can be recirculated through the cooling system multiple times, reducing the total amount of water needed, according to Google.
Q: How much water will the project use?
A: An agreement between Botetourt and the Western Virginia Water Authority states that an estimated two million gallons of water could be used per day in the beginning of the project, and with potential expansions of the project, rise up to eight million gallons per day. The Google data center will become the water authority’s largest customer, Mike McEvoy, the authority’s executive director, said last year.
The Carvins Cove Water Treatment Facility produces about 10 million to 12 million gallons of water per day, with the capacity to treat 24 million gallons per day, Sarah Baumgardner, spokesperson for the water authority, said via email. With all its water sources combined, the water authority has the capacity to treat 56 million gallons of water per day.
Scothorn said during a March 18 interview that the chances of Google using two million gallons of water per day is “pretty low,” and that the estimate would be during the “hottest, most extreme” temperatures.
Botetourt’s website echoes that, stating that Google has “reserved” two million gallons per day, with the understanding that actual daily water use would more often be lower than that reserved capacity.
Q: Will I still be able to access water from a private well?
A: Yes — Botetourt County’s website says that private, residential and agricultural wells in the county are not connected to Carvins Cove.
Wells draw water from groundwater aquifers, the site says, which are filled with rainfall that absorbs directly into the ground beneath your home or business.
On the other hand, Carvins Cove is supplied by surface rainfall, which runs off from surrounding mountains and streams, the site said. Both systems function independently, the site says, and respond differently to rainfall.
The water from Carvins Cove, not from groundwater aquifers, will be used for the Google project.
Q: Why is the county looking into other sources of water?
A: Water supply planning is done decades in advance of new systems coming online, and requires a lot of money and regional cooperation.
McEvoy said last year that the water authority anticipates needing an additional water source in the Roanoke Valley in about 35 years, whether or not Google had announced plans for a data center campus.
The water authority’s website says that the next update to the water supply plan is not due until 2029, but that staff are working on it now.
With Google coming in, the authority decided it was a good idea to start planning early, McEvoy said, as more money will be available from data center tax revenues and from the tech company.
Tillman said Google will support ongoing research at Virginia Tech to study watershed health and improvements to support the regional water supply, in partnership with the water authority.
Environment and energy
Q: What environmental impacts will the project have?
A: The project is expected to have environmental impacts, but it’s unclear at this time what those might be.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Norfolk District received a permit application from Google for “Project Raspberry” — the data center project — and has solicited comments from the public regarding the work in a March public notice. The notice includes environmental information from Google that has not been verified or evaluated to ensure code compliance yet.
According to the notice, the project would result in “permanent impacts” to about 3 acres of non-tidal wetlands and almost 7,000 linear feet of stream channel associated with site grading and construction of infrastructure.
The notice also said that Google estimates requiring five wetland mitigation credits and 7,000 stream mitigation credits.
Through the Virginia Wetland Restoration Trust Fund program, which is coadministered with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Nature Conservancy and the Virginia DEQ, developers may purchase mitigation credits to offset environmental impacts from their projects. The Nature Conservancy then uses those funds for large-scale restoration and preservation projects in areas deemed as high-priority for conservation.
The public notice says that the project would include removal of about 120 acres of forested habitat within the range of the Indiana bat, an endangered species.
Although there are no known habitats within a half-mile of the project area, the public notice says Google has committed to a restriction that would require all tree clearing to be between Oct. 15 and March 31, to comply with federal rules designed to protect roosting bats. The Corps, the notice says, determined the project “may affect” but is “not likely to adversely affect” the Indiana bat.
A water quality certification may be required of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, in which case an administrator is responsible for determining whether discharge from the facility may affect water quality in a neighboring jurisdiction.
Q: How much energy will the project use? And where will the energy come from?
A Google spokesperson said the company does not share full site energy capacity. But we do know that in 2024, Google announced plans to buy all of the power generated by the Rocky Forge wind farm in Botetourt County.
The Google spokesperson said in late March that the 79 megawatts provided by that wind farm will not cover the full capacity needed for the data center campus.
Costs and revenue
Q: Who is paying for the project?
A: Botetourt County and Google have agreed to pay for different parts of the infrastructure and future water supply planning.
In September, the authority’s board of directors approved two agreements related to water infrastructure and future water supply.
An agreement with Botetourt County says the county will fund the authority to study and develop new water supply sources to ensure adequate water supply in the future. An agreement with Google states the company will pay for the authority to develop new water infrastructure solutions that are “sustainable,” according to the authority’s website.
According to the agreement with the county, Botetourt will be responsible for up to 100% of all costs of the water supply project, up to $100 million, and at lower percentages up to $400 million. McEvoy said last year that the county could see costs like this if the need for a completely new reservoir arose.
Botetourt had to be the entity to sign the deal, but the county will now create a separate agreement with Google that lays out how the company will pay for a proportional amount of that cost, based on how much water it needs, County Administrator Gary Larrowe said. He said the board of supervisors will take up that agreement “as soon as possible” and that it is waiting on its attorney to take up that deal.
The agreement also lays out $8 million in specific, near-term payments by the county into a fund that would pay for the water authority to develop new water sources. The water authority’s website says the authority is studying “new water supplies and infrastructure improvements” through funding from both the county and Google.
A Google spokesperson said in late March that they had no new information to share on how much the project will cost in full.
In a press release issued in late March, Google said it is committed to paying 100% of the costs associated with powering the project and has agreed to pay for the infrastructure needed for the project. A Google spokesperson said it’s too early to say exactly what infrastructure is included in this commitment.
