Bowman Consulting Group Ltd.

10/23/2026 | Press release | Archived content

What Virginia’s New Data Center Executive Order Means for Developers and How Bowman Can Help You Stay Ahead of It

With more data center capacity than any other state, Virginia is where the industry's next standards are taking shape. On September 18, 2026, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger signed Executive Order 22 (EO 22), creating the Virginia Data Center Accountability Framework. Under the new framework, Virginia data centers will soon face a higher bar for how they're built, sited and operated, and similar expectations may spread beyond the Commonwealth.

For developers, operators and hyperscalers active in Virginia or weighing it for future facilities, the framework acts like a roadmap. The Governor is moving many of its directives through EO 22 now and plans to work with the General Assembly to write the standards into law in the 2027 session. Projects that understand what's coming and act early are better positioned to clear approval.

Here's what the framework asks for and what it means in practice.

What the Framework Requires

The framework is built around five goals: increased transparency, environmental protection, ratepayer affordability, clean energy and grid reliability and workforce benefits. EO 22 puts many of its directives in motion now, starting with a Data Center Planning and Community Engagement Toolkit due within 120 days, with model disclosure templates for project impacts such as electricity demand, water use, noise and traffic.

Beyond the Toolkit, EO 22 takes several immediate actions, including

Expand the sections below for a breakdown of each framework.

Transparency and Community Engagement+

Expect more disclosure, more local control and fewer state shortcuts. The framework calls for:

  • A ban on nondisclosure agreements that keep communities uninformed about planned development
  • An end to by-right approval, with local approval required for any data center using more than 25 MW, regardless of prior approvals
  • Removal of future large projects from state fast-track permitting, plus an end to state subsidies in site development programs
  • Community benefits agreements between operators and local communities, with state resources to help communities negotiate them
  • Establishing the Virginia Local Energy and Accountable Data Centers (VA-LEAD) designation standards that recognize data centers exceeding requirements on clean energy, water stewardship, grid support and community benefits
  • Promoting projects that protect historic and cultural resources and improve neighborhoods through design, landscaping and buffers

Stronger Environmental Protections+

Data center projects in Virginia must now meet higher standards on emissions, water stewardship, noise, land use and cumulative community impact. The framework calls for:

  • Establishing nation-leading standards for energy efficiency, water use, land impacts and backup generation, including clear water-use standards that cut overall consumption, backed by stronger state enforcement
  • Expedited state regulations on data center noise and on cooling water scarcity areas
  • Cumulative impact analysis of diesel backup generators, with existing and future facilities moving to cleaner backup power, Tier IV or better
  • Encouragement for water-positive developments that replenish local watersheds, plus water reuse and waste heat recovery with nearby businesses and industries
  • Priority for brownfields and edge facilities, plus low-impact site design that minimizes land disturbance, reduces the impact of impervious surfaces and maximizes tree cover
  • Options for reducing and mitigating impacts on scenic and historic landscapes, including those from transmission lines, plus strategies for end-of-life decommissioning

Ratepayer Affordability+

Expect to carry more of the grid costs your project creates, and to show financial commitment earlier. The framework calls for:

  • Requiring utilities to allocate a more equitable share of transmission and generation costs to data centers and other large load customers
  • Requiring stronger upfront financial commitments from developers, so speculative projects do not tie up land, resources and energy infrastructure without ever getting built
  • Advocating fair cost allocation with PJM Interconnection, including by working with other states in PJM territory and adding state protections where needed

Clean Energy and Grid Reliability+

Data centers are expected to work alongside utilities to support new clean generation, energy efficiency and flexible demand, and to strengthen grid resilience and reliability. The framework calls for:

  • Limits on electricity generated from on-site natural gas to the maximum extent practicable, and closing loopholes that let those emissions bypass Virginia's clean air standards and avoid payments into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
  • Priority grid access for data centers that source clean energy five years faster than the Virginia Clean Economy Act requires, cut backup generator emissions by 60% and allow at most a de minimis amount of on-site natural gas generation, with a doubled electricity consumption tax for operators that then fail to comply
  • Easier paths to bring your own clean power, including reforming utility charges that discourage clean energy investment and procurement
  • Standards that prevent sudden changes in electricity demand from destabilizing the grid
  • Greater flexibility from new and existing data centers to support grid reliability, including through local clean energy and battery projects
  • A strategy to prevent and reduce methane emissions across the supply chain and support verified low-emissions gas

Local Jobs and Local Hiring+

Virginia wants data center growth to produce quality local jobs, training opportunities and prioritize local procurement. The framework calls for:

  • Prioritizing local hiring and encouraging localities to set hiring and workforce training goals
  • Prioritizing Virginia businesses in procurement and contracting
  • Supporting strong labor practices through responsible contractor standards and apprenticeship programs for new developments
  • Supporting project labor agreements where possible

Planning Your Data Center Project Around the Framework

None of this is a reason to pause data center development plans in Virginia, but it does change what "shovel-ready" looks like. Projects with strong water stewardship, credible noise mitigation, a clean backup power strategy and a well-prepared local entitlement case will hold advantage as these standards take effect. Conversely, projects still planning around the assumption of state fast-track eligibility or older diesel backup generation should revisit those assumptions now.

The good news is that most of what the farmwork asks for is established engineering practice. That includes site selection and entitlement strategy, noise and acoustic studies, water resource planning, battery storage and clean backup power design and adaptive reuse of existing buildings. Development teams that bring these capabilities together on one project team will move fastest.

How Bowman Helps You Stay Ahead of EO 22

Bowman has designed more than 26 million square feet of data center space over more than 30 years, and that work spans site selection, environmental, civil, water, power, mechanical and acoustical engineering. Because of our integrated capabilities and local knowledge of Virginia's new data center framework, you'll work with a team that knows how to address the requirements without coordinating separate consultants.

Prepare for Local Review

Our land planning team compares sites on power, fiber, water and utility capacity, builds the entitlement strategy with local agencies and carries the design through site plan approval. Landscape architecture also supports the buffering requirements

Manage Noise, Water and Site Impacts

Bowman's acoustical engineers model sound and design mitigation, water resource planners reduce demand tied to water-cooled chillers and mechanical engineers design high-efficiency and direct to chip cooling. Environmental site assessments help evaluate brownfield and reuse sites early and commissioning verifies that systems perform as designed.

Strengthen Your Power Strategy

Bowman's electrical engineers design substations, medium voltage distribution, UPS and backup generation, and we coordinate directly with serving utilities. For projects that bring their own clean power, the team also designs battery energy storage systems, fuel cell plants and solar PV, with fire protection engineering for lithium-ion batteries.

A Virginia Team with National Resources

We've been active in Virginia's data center market for years, with projects across Loudoun, Fauquier and Culpeper counties and the broader Dulles corridor. Our Reston headquarters and offices across the Commonwealth keep local people and knowledge close to your project.

Need a partner for navigating Virginia's EO 22 framework? Visit our mission critical page, submit the form via the Click Here to Start a Conversation button and we'll connect you with a team prepared to help.

Bowman Consulting Group Ltd. published this content on October 23, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on October 26, 2026 at 23:23 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]