Glossary

Assessor's Parcel Number, the ID number a county uses for a piece of land.

The elected governing body of a Virginia county, which makes final land-use decisions.

Seen on: Culpeper County, Chesterfield County, Fauquier County, Henrico County, Loudoun County, Stafford County, Remington Technology Park, Cosner Tech Campus and 2 more

Business, Professional and Occupational License tax, a Virginia local tax on a business's gross receipts.

Seen on: Culpeper County

A use the zoning already allows, so no public hearing or board vote is needed to approve it.

Why it matters to you: By-right projects can move ahead with less public input.

Seen on: Culpeper County, Chesterfield County, Fauquier County, Henrico County, Loudoun County, Louisa County, Prince William County, Spotsylvania County and 1 more

A data center that rents space, power and cooling to many different companies.

Seen on: Equinix DC2 (Ashburn Campus)

A county's long-range plan for how land should be used, which guides zoning decisions.

Seen on: Henrico County, Loudoun County, Spotsylvania County

A local tax on business personal property such as servers. It is a major source of data center tax revenue in Virginia counties.

Seen on: Chesterfield County, Loudoun County, Prince William County

Permission the county board must vote on, usually after a public hearing, which can come with conditions. Counties use different names for it.

Why it matters to you: These hearings are where residents can speak.

Seen on: Culpeper County, Chesterfield County, Fauquier County, Henrico County, Loudoun County, Louisa County, Prince William County, Spotsylvania County and 3 more

A site with several data center buildings, usually built in phases.

Seen on: Culpeper County, Chesterfield County, Fauquier County, Henrico County, Louisa County, Spotsylvania County, Stafford County, Remington Technology Park and 13 more

A utility owned by the members it serves.

Seen on: Culpeper County, Louisa County, Spotsylvania County, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, EdgeCore Louisa (Shannon Hill)

Very large data centers built for big cloud and internet companies.

Seen on: Louisa County, EdgeCore Louisa (Shannon Hill)

The grid operator's or utility's waiting list of projects asking to connect to the power grid.

A utility owned by shareholders, regulated by the state.

A measure of voltage. Bigger numbers mean bigger, higher-voltage lines; 1 kV is 1,000 volts.

Seen on: Culpeper County, Fauquier County, Henrico County, Loudoun County, Louisa County, Prince William County, Spotsylvania County, Stafford County and 2 more

A local Virginia tax on equipment businesses use to make products.

Seen on: Culpeper County, Fauquier County

A measure of how much electricity equipment like a transformer or line can carry, close to megawatts in everyday terms.

Seen on: Culpeper County, Dominion Energy Virginia

A measure of how much power something uses at once. 1 GW equals 1,000 MW.

Seen on: Chesterfield County, Henrico County, Loudoun County, Louisa County, Prince William County, Remington Technology Park, Remington Digital Campus (formerly Gigaland), QTS Richmond and 6 more

An extra layer of zoning rules drawn on a map on top of the regular zoning.

Why it matters to you: An overlay can decide where data centers are allowed and what rules they follow.

Seen on: Culpeper County, Henrico County, Louisa County, Prince William County, Stafford County, Desper Creek Technology Campus

The regional grid operator that plans and runs the high-voltage grid for Virginia and 12 other states plus Washington, D.C.

Seen on: Fauquier County, Loudoun County

An appointed county board that reviews land-use proposals and makes recommendations to the Board of Supervisors.

Why it matters to you: Its hearings are often the first chance to comment on a proposal.

Seen on: Culpeper County, Chesterfield County, Fauquier County, Henrico County, Loudoun County, Louisa County, Spotsylvania County, Stafford County and 3 more

Land that has, or can get, the large electricity supply a data center needs.

Treated wastewater reused for things like cooling instead of drinking water.

Seen on: Culpeper County, Chesterfield County, Fauquier County, Loudoun County, Spotsylvania County, Stafford County

Changing what a piece of land is allowed to be used for.

Why it matters to you: Many data center projects start with a rezoning request, which goes to public hearings.

Seen on: Chesterfield County, Fauquier County, Prince William County, Spotsylvania County, Google Upper Magnolia Green (Project Skye), Google Watkins Centre (Project Loch), QTS White Oak Technology Park II expansion, Devlin Tech Park and 2 more

Virginia's State Corporation Commission, which approves utility rates and new high-voltage transmission lines.

Why it matters to you: SCC cases have their own public comment periods.

Seen on: Chesterfield County, Fauquier County, Henrico County, Loudoun County, Louisa County, Prince William County, Spotsylvania County, Stafford County and 1 more

A required distance between a building or equipment and property lines, homes or roads.

Why it matters to you: Setbacks are a common way to limit noise and views.

Seen on: Henrico County, Stafford County, Google Upper Magnolia Green (Project Skye)

A fenced facility that steps electricity down from high-voltage lines so it can be used locally.

Why it matters to you: New data centers often need new substations nearby.

Seen on: Culpeper County, Fauquier County, Loudoun County, Louisa County, Prince William County, Spotsylvania County, Stafford County, Dominion Energy Virginia and 10 more

A facility that connects and routes high-voltage lines without changing the voltage.

Seen on: Culpeper County, Prince William County

High-voltage power lines, usually on tall towers, that carry electricity long distances.

Why it matters to you: New lines can cross private land and change views, and they need state approval.

Seen on: Culpeper County, Fauquier County, Henrico County, Loudoun County, Louisa County, Prince William County, Spotsylvania County, Stafford County and 2 more

Questions we could not answer from public sources, listed on every county page so nothing is overstated.

Seen on: every county page.

A change to the written rules of the zoning ordinance, rather than to the zoning map.

Seen on: Culpeper County, Prince William County