Dive Brief:
- Northern Virginia is now the largest data center market in the U.S., with 20% market share, surpassing the New York-New Jersey region, according to real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc. (JLL), the Washington Business Journal reported.
- There is one million square feet of data center space under construction in Northern Virginia and 7.3 million square feet already in use, with JLL attributing the region's popularity to lower electricity rates, minimal risk of natural disasters and a strong fiber network nearby.
- Amazon Web Services is constructing a 900-acre, 80-megawatt solar farm in the region, generating the electricity necessary to power 15,000 homes. Amazon will use the electricity generated by the farm's 250,000 solar panels to power its cloud computing platform's data centers.
Dive Insight:
Building costs for new data centers are high, Virginia Business reported, and infrastructure expense can be as much as two to three times the construction costs. Construction and infrastructure costs are higher for enterprise users, who are more frequently choosing third party facility providers to reduce costs.
"We expect the 2015 data center market to be on par with or surpass 2014's record levels and that Northern Virginia will also be the leading market again in 2016," said JLL Managing Director Allen Tucker. "Users can expect to see continued stable pricing and concessions into 2016 as operators continue to compete for the nation's most robust enterprise demand, with power costs that will remain stable and predictable for several years."
