Data Centers' Emergency Diesel Generators Spew Noise, Fumes That VA Won't Regulate: Report

STERLING, VA – A new report details the impact of diesel generators backing up Loudoun County data centers, and the state’s laissez-faire attitude toward residents’ complaints.

WUSA 9 reports that the Vantage VA2 data center in Sterling lost power Thursday evening, forcing the campus to rely on diesel generators for almost an entire day. The generators were running during a Code Red air quality alert, as the region was blanketed with thick smoke drifting from Canadian wildfires.

According to the report, a neighbor complained about the generators’ noise and fumes that were so bad he left his home to stay with family. However, in response to his formal complaint, the state’s Department of Environmental Quality said it had no regulatory authority to stop actions undertaken in response to an emergency.

Now, Sterling District Supervisor Koran Saines says the county needs to step in and figure out its own mechanisms for regulating the data centers mushrooming within it. He will bring an initiative to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors requesting that staff research how to apply local regulations to the operations of existing data center backup generators.

Read more from WUSA9 here.