Data Centers Caught In Power Play

Bill Fairchild, president of Manassas commercial builder R.W. Murray, said his company recently moved a government contractor into the former Independence Air headquarters, a modern, five-year-old building. "You would think that building would have plenty of power for our client," Fairchild said. "But when they took it over, they needed to double the power."

Each new desk required two computers -- one for the secure network and another for everyday use, he said.

Another coalition member, Rodney Loges, president of the digital marketing firm NetStrategies of Alexandria, said his firm endured blackouts one or two times a week for a month because of capacity constraints after a condominium complex was built near his office.

"When you're sending employees home early from work because there's not enough power, it's expensive," he said.

Brian Chavis, founder of the technology consulting firm ARGroup in Leesburg, joined the coalition to initiate more discussion. He's not entirely sure who would benefit from the new power line.

"Everyone knows on Route 66 and Route 28 where the cars are going," he said. "Electricity is different."

So far, the coalition has had little success enlisting data center operators to its ranks, despite Dominion's claims they would be prime beneficiaries of the new line.

"We talked to several people considering building data centers in Northern Virginia," said Le-Ha Anderson, a Dominion spokeswoman. "So far there's not much willingness to come out to support the transmission line."

An exception is Equinix, a California company that provides data center and Internet exchange service. The company sent a letter supporting Dominion to the State Corporation Commission, which is reviewing the proposal and has pledged to testify on the power company's behalf. Equinix said in March that it planned to expand in the Dulles corridor by building a data center, scheduled to open next year, adjacent to four it operates in Ashburn. If Equinix has trouble getting enough power in Ashburn, it'll be forced to build elsewhere, said Howard Horowitz, vice president of real estate.

Other technology executives are not so sure adding capacity is the answer.

Patrick J. Sweeney II, president and chief executive of Odin Technologies in Dulles, said building additional infrastructure is like digging more oil wells to solve an oil crisis.

"Most business owners today in my peer group would much rather see solutions based on technology using less power and less demand on the grid rather than adding more capacity," said Sweeney, who previously founded a company that managed data centers.

Some companies said they just preferred to stay on the sidelines. Sprint of Reston said the issue was not one of its lobbying priorities. AOL of Dulles declined to comment.

Ditto for Timothy Caulfield, senior vice president for Savvis, a data center operator. "Applying our company resources" to help Dominion, he said, "is not one of the things in our priority stack."