🇺🇸 English, 9 October 2026, data center outages
Virginia Data Center Ran Diesel Generators for 24 Hours
A Code Red air-quality alert was in effect due to Canadian wildfire smoke, and the facility's diesel backup generators ran nearly 24 hours after a turbine failure.
The Vantage Data Centers’ VA2 campus in Sterling, Virginia, experienced a turbine failure that led to a 24-hour run of diesel backup generators, exacerbating air-quality concerns during a Code Red alert.
The facility operates entirely on onsite power, with natural-gas turbines as primary power and diesel generators as backup, and the turbine plant is temporary, with grid connection planned once the utility can support the facility’s load.
The incident has raised questions about the permit structure governing Virginia’s data centers, with many facilities classified as ‘minor’ and allowed to emit high levels of pollutants without public notice or hearing.