QTS Ashburn-Shellhorn DC2
Loudoun County, VA
Source: OpenStreetMap
QTS Ashburn-Shellhorn DC2 is an operating data center in Loudoun County, VA, operated by QTS Realty Trust, LLC. DataCentersExposed has documented 42 MW of reported power capacity and a 152,471 sq ft footprint at this site.
Reporting by Eric Keller · Updated Jun 18, 2026
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Loudoun, Virginia
It's built. The levers now are permit renewals, noise/air complaints, and rate-case intervention.
Hearing timeline
- DecisionPlanning Commission Public Hearing
Thu, Jul 23, 2026
Planning Commission Public Hearing: LEGI-2024-0074, Spring Valley Technology Park: ZMAP-2025-0008, SPEX-2025-0009, SPEX-2025-0010, SPEX-2025-0011, SPEX-2025-0136, & SPEX-2026-0004 (Ashburn) Project Manager: Allison Britain
- Board of Supervisors Business Meeting
Tue, Jul 21, 2026
Board of Supervisors Business Meeting: data-center item — Board Member Initiative: Operational Regulations on Existing Data Center Backup Generators (Countywide) Staff Contact(s): Christi Maple, Supervisor Saines’ Office
- DecisionBoard of Supervisors Business Meeting
Tue, Jul 7, 2026
Board of Supervisors Business Meeting: *LEGI-2025-0010, Barrister Substation: SPEX-2025-0021 & SPEX-2025-0023 (Sterling) Staff Contact(s): Allison Britain & Daniel Galindo, Planning and Zoning
- DecisionJoint Board of Supervisors/Planning Commission Special Business Meeting
Tue, Jun 30, 2026
Joint Board of Supervisors/Planning Commission Special Business Meeting: data-center item — Data Center Standards & Locations Ph 2
- DecisionPlanning Commission Public Hearing
Tue, May 26, 2026
Planning Commission Public Hearing: data-center item — Golden Substation permit and special exception applications in Sterling for utility project.
- DecisionBoard of Supervisors Business Meeting
Tue, Apr 21, 2026
Board of Supervisors Business Meeting: data-center item — Zoning amendment for Concorde Industrial Park in Sterling.
Withdrawn — applicant withdrew Concorde Industrial Park item; removed from agenda.
- DecisionBoard of Supervisors Business Meeting and Public Hearing
Tue, Mar 17, 2026
Board of Supervisors Business Meeting and Public Hearing: data-center item — Zoning Map Amendment for Concorde Industrial Park in Sterling; rezoning 17.2 acres.
- DecisionBoard of Supervisors Business Meeting
Wed, Feb 18, 2026
Board of Supervisors Business Meeting: data-center item — Comprehensive Plan Amendment for countywide electrical infrastructure provisions.
- DecisionBoard of Supervisors Public Hearing
Wed, Feb 11, 2026
Board of Supervisors Public Hearing: data-center item — Zoning map amendment and special exceptions for Concorde Industrial Park in Sterling
- DecisionPlanning Commission Public Hearing
Wed, Jan 28, 2026
Planning Commission Public Hearing: data-center item — Concorde Industrial Park zoning map amendment and special exceptions in Sterling.
- DecisionBoard of Supervisors Business Meeting
Wed, Jan 21, 2026
Board of Supervisors Business Meeting: data-center item — Comprehensive Plan Amendment for housekeeping and clean-up text amendments to 2019 General Plan.
- DecisionBoard of Supervisors Public Hearing
Wed, Jan 14, 2026
Board of Supervisors Public Hearing: data-center item — Countywide comprehensive plan amendment regarding electrical infrastructure.
- Board of Supervisors Business Meeting
Tue, Jan 6, 2026
Board of Supervisors Business Meeting: data-center item — Board Member Initiative: Data Center Informational Fact Sheet (Countywide)
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Your action kit
Sourced arguments and ready-to-send letters — every figure links to a primary record. Edit to add your own story.
42 MW of new demand — roughly a city of 34,000 homes.
Large new loads can raise transmission and capacity costs that land on every ratepayer. Residential power in VA is 17.6¢/kWh, up 15.4% year-over-year. (MW→homes is a rough ~800/MW planning figure.)
SourceDemand a full, public review — not a rubber stamp.
Ask for an independent noise study, a water-and-power impact assessment, enforceable conditions (setbacks, hours, cooling type), and that the record stays open for written comment. Procedural shortcuts have voided approvals elsewhere.
Edit freely before sending — it's a starting point. Add your own story; personal comments carry the most weight.
Edit freely before sending — it's a starting point. Add your own story; personal comments carry the most weight.
Join the campaign
Add your name and we'll email you before every hearing, with what to say and where to show up.
Neighbors taking a stand
Overview
source: linkQTS Ashburn-Shellhorn DC2 is an operating colocation data center in Loudoun County, Virginia, run by QTS Realty Trust, LLC, also identified in records as Quality Technology Services. Its reported footprint is 152,471 square feet. The site draws power from Virginia Electric & Power Co inside the PJM grid.
Operator chain
- Ultimate parentQTS Realty Trust, LLC
- Files asQTS Realty Trust, LLC
- This facilityQTS Ashburn-Shellhorn DC2
Grid & water — why here
source: HIFLD · EPAThe closest existing grid infrastructure and the municipal water system this location sits in — the same constraints the buildout model screens on (it won't site a campus more than ~2 km from a substation or ~5 km from municipal water). Distances are straight-line to public HIFLD/EPA features, not a metered connection.
In the news
source: Google News- More than 4M square feet of data centers coming to LancasterThe Business Journals· Aug 21, 2026
- AI Data Center Financing Costs Surge as Blackstone's QTS Bond Prices at 7.2% Yieldfinance.biggo.com· Aug 18, 2026
- Blackstone-Backed QTS Kicks Off Data-Center Bond at Hefty CostBloomberg.com· Aug 18, 2026
- QTS Expands AI Loan to $3.25 Billion, Drops $1 Billion Bond SaleTradingView· Jul 16, 2026
- Blackstone-Owned Data Center Operator Secures $3.25B Loan as AI Infrastructure Spending SurgesBriefs Finance· Jul 15, 2026
- AI Push to M&A-Starved Loans Gains Fuel With Supersized QTS DealBloomberg.com· Jul 15, 2026
In public meetings
Where this facility is discussed in the verbatim record of public government meetings. Captions are auto-generated and uncorrected.
- Planning Commission Public HearingJul 23, 2026
“…forward exditious. thk you. mmission fran. thankyou. Do know by recing the size of thbatty storage does that impat at all how this sie, the datacenteritlf, opetes? I to have defer. that's wht thght. The I uld assumedo have backu generats somewhere on this faciliy? They ve anequipmenyd fencedff? The apication proping th…” [42:07]
Read the transcript · 4 mentions - Board of Supervisors Business MeetingJul 7, 2026
“…ou? Good. We are ready when you are. all right. Good evening MADAM Chair and supervisors. My name is abdul jaffari. I'm the manager for the data center [Inaudible] Location. Today I'm joined this evening with daniel galindo, director of department of planning and zoning as well as mike and callow and frederico lopez fr…” [43:55]
Read the transcript · 4 mentions
Tax breaks & subsidies
source: Good Jobs First / GASB 77No per-deal tax break is linked to this site yet. No state discloses the recipient of a data-center abatement at the facility level, so per-site deals are rare in the public record. If you have a development agreement or board resolution for this site, send it to us.
Virginia reported $1B in Data Center Retail Sales and Use Tax Exemption (Va. Code § 58.1-609.3(18)) for FY2024 (Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) / Weldon Cooper Center). Program-wide, not attributable to this site.
Water use
No measured record exists, so this is a low-confidence model from 175 MW (interconnection capacity): 1.8 L/kWh cooling (temperate climate) + 0.5 gal/kWh embedded in PJM grid mix. How we estimate. Have a utility document? Send it and we'll replace this with the real figure.
EPA permits & violations
source: EPA ECHONo reported violations as of last sync.
Environmental permits
source: Permit register- VA DEQ air permit (minor NSR)74197Diesel backup-generator air permit. Program: mNSR. Reg. 74197.
What this site costs the grid
source: PJM RPM auction reportsPJM's capacity auction sets a $/MW-day price that utilities pass on to every household and business in the zone. This site sits in PJM's DOM pricing zone, where soaring data-center demand is a documented driver. See the full zone-by-zone breakdown →
42 MW of load at the zone's $333/MW-day, annualized — the capacity charge a load this size carries at the current auction price.
Separately, a typical home in this zone pays an estimated $4 to $10/mo more on the capacity portion of its bill that PJM's market monitor attributes to data-center demand. See your address's full impact →
Air quality near this site
source: AirNowAir Quality Index from the nearest AirNow reporting area (Northern Virginia), as of 2026-06-10. Regional context — not this facility's own emissions.
Who lives nearby
source: Census ACS 2023Demographics of the census tract this facility sits in (American Community Survey 5-year estimates). Environmental-justice context for who bears the local impacts.
Nearest school
source: HIFLD / NCESThe nearest public school, Discovery Elementary in Ashburn, is 1.4 mi from this site (710 students).
Schools are sensitive receptors for the noise, backup-generator exhaust, and traffic a large data center brings. Straight-line distance to the nearest public school (HIFLD/NCES, US public schools only).
Hearings timeline
No public-hearing records linked to this site yet. We surface planning-commission and board-of-supervisors dates when a record names a facility. If you know of a hearing on this site, tell us.