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Henrico County: data centers & powered land

Henrico has 37 operating data centers and at least 17 more approved projects in the pipeline, according to Axios, and White Oak Technology Park hosts several of them.[1][2]

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Zoning

  • On June 10, 2025 the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to end by-right data center development in industrial, office and business districts and to require a provisional use permit for all new data centers countywide.[3]
  • A proposed Technology Boulevard Overlay District for the White Oak area was dropped from the final rules.[3]
  • The amended rules raised the required buffer between new data center buildings and residential property lines from 200 feet to 500 feet and limit when backup generators can operate.[3][2][6]
  • The board also adopted a Data Center Comprehensive Plan Amendment on June 10, 2025 as an appendix to the county's Vision 2026 Comprehensive Plan, giving recommendations for new data center development.[7]
  • The first permit request under the new rules, a 200-acre campus off Darbytown Road outside White Oak, drew a Planning Commission denial recommendation and was withdrawn, and the Board of Zoning Appeals unanimously ruled in February 2026 that the developer had no vested right to build a data center there.[8][9][10]

Power & transmission

  • Dominion Energy's White Oak project adds a double-circuit 230 kV transmission line to serve growing demand in the Sandston and Elko area around White Oak Technology Park, approved by the SCC on March 25, 2024 in case PUR-2023-00110.[11]
  • In November 2025 the SCC created a new Dominion rate class for customers using more than 25 MW at a monthly load factor above 75 percent, with 14-year contracts and minimum demand charges of 85 percent for transmission and distribution and 60 percent for generation.[12]
  • Dominion worked with Meta to create Schedule RF, a renewable energy tariff that lets large users add new Virginia renewable projects, and Meta says its Henrico data center runs on 100 percent renewable energy supported by several solar facilities.[13]

Utilities

UtilityType
Dominion Energy VirginiaInvestor-owned utility

Campuses

CampusOperatorStatus
Meta Henrico Data CenterMetaOperating
QTS RichmondQTS Data CentersOperating
QTS White Oak Technology Park II expansionQTS Data CentersApproved
Iron Mountain Henrico data center siteIron MountainProposed

Incentives & taxes

  • Computers and peripherals used in a data center with at least 1 MW of electrical capacity are taxed at $2.60 per $100 of assessed value.[4][5]
  • The county cut the data center equipment rate from $3.50 to 40 cents per $100 in 2017 and raised it to $2.60 in 2025.[14]
  • A monthly energy consumption tax on data centers took effect July 1, 2026 and is set to sunset in 2028, according to Axios.[1]
  • In 2024 the county set up a $60 million affordable housing trust fund paid for with data center tax revenue.[2][3]

Water

  • Henrico can treat more than 100 million gallons of water per day and uses about 30 to 40 million, and county officials say data centers account for less than 2 percent of daily treated water use.[1]

Fiber

  • Telxius set up inside the QTS Richmond data center in 2018, tying the eastern Henrico facility into the MAREA and BRUSA subsea cables that land in Virginia Beach.[15][16]

Local sentiment

  • At a May 2026 community meeting in Varina, residents opposed a planned 17-building QTS expansion, citing electricity costs, generator emissions, water use and noise.[17]
  • County officials said in July 2026 they do not expect many new data center proposals, and a supervisor said in May 2026 that he does not want new data centers beyond those previously approved.[1][17]

Known gaps

  • Published counts of Henrico data centers vary by source and date (11 in the technology park, 16, and 37 countywide); the 37 figure comes from news reports, not a county inventory.
  • No public figure was found for total contracted or planned electric load in Henrico or for White Oak substation capacity.
  • The rate and structure of the 2026 data center energy consumption tax were not verified in a county document.
  • Which previously approved projects remain vested and exempt from the June 2025 rules is decided case by case and is not published as a list.
  • No verified start date or megawatt figure was found for the QTS White Oak Technology Park II buildout.

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Sources

  1. Henrico officials expect pause in new data centers Axios Richmond. Accessed .
  2. Henrico limits new data centers after zoning changes Virginia Business. Accessed .
  3. Henrico tightens restrictions on data center projects, eliminates by-right approvals Richmond BizSense. Accessed .
  4. Approved Tax, Fee and Schedule Henrico County Department of Finance. Accessed .
  5. Henrico County Tax Summary (7/1/25) Henrico Economic Development Authority. Accessed .
  6. Henrico Board of Supervisors passes stricter requirements for data centers 29News (WVIR). Accessed .
  7. Data Center Design Guidelines (Data Center Comprehensive Plan Amendment) Henrico County. Accessed .
  8. Henrico reviewing first permit request under new data center rules Richmond BizSense. Accessed .
  9. Developer proposes Henrico industrial park after resistance to data centers Virginia Business. Accessed .
  10. Henrico zoning board denies data center site appeal WTVR CBS 6. Accessed .
  11. White Oak electric transmission project Dominion Energy. Accessed .
  12. SCC approves Chesterfield gas plant and Dominion rate hike, creates new rate class for data centers Virginia Mercury. Accessed .
  13. Meta: Friends with Virginia Virginia Economic Development Partnership. Accessed .
  14. Henrico became a data center hub seemingly overnight. How did it happen, and what are the impacts? The Richmonder. Accessed .
  15. Richmond area data center now tied into subsea cables Greater Richmond Partnership. Accessed .
  16. QTS and Telxius bring MAREA and BRUSA connectivity to QTS Richmond SubTel Forum. Accessed .
  17. Residents push back on QTS data center expansion WTVR CBS 6. Accessed .

17 sources cited. See the methodology for how facts are selected and reviewed.