id: google-botetourt
name: Google Data Center at Botetourt Center at Greenfield
operator: google
status: announced
location:
  country: US
  state: VA
  county: Botetourt
  address: Botetourt Center at Greenfield
metrics:
  water_source: municipal
  water_usage_gpd: 2000000
  water_usage_basis: permitted-max
  investment_usd: 3000000000
announced_date: "2026"
first_seen: "2026-07-14"
last_updated: "2026-07-14"
confidence: medium
sources:
  - url: https://www.botetourtva.gov/1023/Google-Data-Center-Water
    title: "Google Data Center - Water"
    publisher: Botetourt County government
    date: "2026"
    note: "Water source (WVWA) and the 2,000,000 gal/day reserved-capacity ceiling; county notes actual use runs lower."
  - url: https://cardinalnews.org/2026/07/09/by-water-use-googles-botetourt-site-would-be-its-8th-largest-data-center-complex-in-the-world/
    title: "By water use, Google's Botetourt site would be its 8th largest data center complex in the world"
    publisher: Cardinal News
    date: "2026-07-09"
    note: "~2M gal/day initial, up to ~8M gal/day at full expansion; from Google's 2026 environmental report."
  - url: https://www.wsls.com/news/local/2026/03/12/documents-reveal-key-details-of-proposed-google-data-center-project-in-botetourt-county/
    title: "Documents reveal key details of proposed Google Data Center Project in Botetourt County"
    publisher: WSLS
    date: "2026-03-12"
    note: "$3B / ~150 jobs by 2030 performance agreement; developer Helio Capital LLC; WVWA utility agreement."
  - url: https://www.westernvawater.org/customers/capital-projects/draft-proposed-data-center-in-botetourt-center-at-greenfield
    title: "Google Data Center in Botetourt Center at Greenfield"
    publisher: Western Virginia Water Authority
    date: "2026"
    note: "Location and utility-services scope."
signals:
  - sig-20260714-google-botetourt-water-reserve
  - sig-20260714-google-botetourt-water-source
  - sig-20260714-google-botetourt-water-expansion
  - sig-20260714-google-botetourt-location
  - sig-20260714-google-botetourt-investment
  - sig-20260714-google-botetourt-status
notes: >
  Proposed Google campus at the Botetourt Center at Greenfield business park,
  served by Western Virginia Water Authority (WVWA) municipal water and sewer.
  Developer of record is Helio Capital LLC, an entity representing Google;
  utility-services funding and county performance agreements ($3B, ~150 jobs
  by 2030) are signed, but no land-use construction permit is confirmed here,
  so status stays "announced".

  Water figures conflict by basis and phase, and are resolved conservatively
  to the highest-confidence primary figure. water_usage_gpd is set to the
  2,000,000 gal/day WVWA reserved-capacity ceiling (permitted-max) from the
  county; the county explicitly states Google's reported actual use is lower
  than this planning number, so this is a ceiling, not a measured average.
  Cardinal News (citing Google's 2026 environmental report) frames 2M gal/day
  as the contracted initial figure rising to as much as ~8M gal/day at full
  buildout (estimated) — carried as a separate signal, not averaged in.
  Records released under FOIA and reporting on the water-use disclosure
  dispute (e.g. the Roanoke Rambler) have surfaced higher potential figures;
  the gap between reserved capacity, Google-reported actual use, and
  full-expansion estimates is unresolved and deliberately left in these notes
  rather than collapsed into a single number.

  Botetourt is outside the Greater Richmond Metro focus area but within
  Virginia's deep-coverage scope. Added as the first end-to-end
  water_source / water_usage_gpd / water_usage_basis record (kdc#165) because
  it is the best primary-sourced water figure available in VA right now;
  Henrico/Chesterfield sources so far give only county-aggregate water use,
  not per-site figures.