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Technology

WHEN THE DATA CENTER COMES.

By charles duggan

Go to stand
Share link
https://covver.com/magazine/sawdawgs2-2/untitled-magazine-18
Published
Oct 12, 2026
Updated
Oct 14, 2026
Pages
12
Language
English

More in this magazine

  • AS IT TURNS OUTISSUE 01 THE DATA CENTER BOOM
  • EDITOR'S LETTEREditor's Letter A boom is reshaping land, power and local economies faster than regulation can track.
  • DATA & DEMANDTHE FORECAST GAP Illustrative estimates charting the widening distance between projected data center electricity demand and utility grid capacity through 2030.
  • Page 5A residential street backs up to data center campuses in eastern Loudoun County, where housing and server farms now sit side by side. DATA CENTER ALLEY
  • INFRASTRUCTUREInside the Buildout How a hyperscale data center campus actually gets built — from site selection through permitting, power interconnection, water cooling infrastructure, and construction execution. The physical anatomy of the buildout that reshapes regional land use and grid demand.
  • Page 7The stated purpose is to help assign certain costs to the customers whose needs cause them. [L07/LE07] That is evidence of a regulatory mechanism. It is not evidence that a particular residential bill has already gone up, gone down, or been fully insulated from every effect of new demand.
  • POLICY & POWERWho Pays for the Grid As data centers multiply, utilities and consumer advocates are at odds over who should cover the cost of the transmission lines and substations needed to serve them.
  • ACCOUNTABILITYThe Accountability Tool Five questions residents, journalists and local officials can put to data center developers and utilities before the next approval vote.
  • ON THE RECORDInfrastructure decisions made quietly today will shape electricity costs and land use for a generation. AS IT TURNS OUT — ISSUE 01
  • AS IT TURNS OUTAs It Turns Out is a quarterly investigation into the systems that quietly shape modern life — the land, power, and policy decisions made far from public view but close to every bill we pay. Next issue: beneath the servers. We turn to the water powering the boom, tracing how hyperscale cooling systems are reshaping regional water supplies, utility contracts, and the communities that depend on both.
Text of this page

THE STATUS WORDS THAT CHANGE THE STORY

REQUESTED

UNDER REVIEW

An operator is evaluating the request. The review is not an approval.

A developer or customer has sought a connection or described a planned need. The request is not operating demand.

OBSERVED ENERGIZED

APPROVED TO ENERGIZE

The system or record identifies actual operation. This is the status closest to an outcome, though it may still not answer every water, cost, employment, or emissions question.

A status can be further along than a study approval and still not describe observed operation.

WELL, LOOK AT THAT!

A reported large-load “project” may be a planning-pipeline state rather than operating electricity demand.

What this does not tell you: A status can be further along than a study approval and still not describe observed operation. The system or record identifies actual operation. This is the status closest to an outcome, though it may still not answer every water, cost, employment, or emissions question.