Breaking News: Google eyeing data center campus in Goochland's West Creek

Key Points:

• Google is considering purchasing a roughly 1,000-acre site in Goochland County's West Creek Business Park to build a 1,200-megawatt data center campus, confirmed by the company following a county release.
• The site lies within Goochland’s recently approved technology overlay district (TOD), allowing data center projects to proceed as a by-right use without public hearings, and Google is currently conducting due diligence before potentially moving forward.
• This potential project was initially mentioned anonymously in a July State Corporation Commission filing listing several large data center proposals in the area, with Google now confirmed as the customer for the largest 1,200-megawatt campus.
• Conversations between Google and Goochland County began in early 2024, paused after initial disinterest, but resumed after the TOD adoption in November 2023, leading to the recent announcement following the mutual release from a non-disclosure agreement.
• Google’s Goochland project would complement its existing and planned data center developments in the Richmond region, including a large campus under construction in Chesterfield County and multiple other planned facilities nearby.