Why Is Maryland Powering Virginia’s Data Centers Instead of Building a Smarter Grid?

The story is as maddening as it is predictable: Marylanders could end up paying $800 million to power Virginia's data center boom—a surge of AI-driven server farms whose insatiable appetite for electricity is pushing our grid to its limits. Meanwhile, cutting-edge solutions like sodium-ion batteries and micro nuclear reactors, widely adopted in Europe and Asia, remain frustratingly sidelined here in the United States.

The question isn't just why Marylanders are paying for someone else’s growth. The real question is this: Why aren’t we exploring the most advanced, scalable energy technologies available to meet our own needs?

The Data Center Dilemma

Let’s be clear: data centers are here to stay. They’re critical to everything from Google search results to medical AI. Maryland wants in on the action, especially after Governor Wes Moore passed the Critical Infrastructure Streamlining Act to attract investment. But with fossil fuel plants like Brandon Shores closing, the state’s infrastructure is being pushed to the brink.

Rather than innovate, policymakers have defaulted to an outdated, inefficient, and inequitable solution: build long-distance transmission lines to funnel electricity into the region—sometimes from hundreds of miles away. In the case of the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project, that means 70 miles of high-voltage lines cutting across Frederick, Carroll, and Baltimore Counties. And who pays? You do—even if the juice flows straight to Virginia.

Europe and Asia: Innovating Past Us

Across the Atlantic and Pacific, nations are doing the opposite. Sweden’s Northvolt and China’s BYD are scaling sodium-ion batteries—a cheaper, more sustainable alternative to lithium-ion. These batteries are non-toxic, abundant, and already being deployed for grid-scale energy storage.

Meanwhile, China, the UK, and even tiny Sweden are racing ahead with micro nuclear reactors—safe, modular power generators that can produce energy 24/7 without emissions. These reactors can sit on-site at data centers, military bases, or remote communities—no massive power lines needed, no $800 million ratepayer gift required.

China even hit a milestone in April 2025 by refueling a thorium reactor without shutting it down, showing just how far the global innovation gap has widened.

Why Is the U.S. So Far Behind?

Let’s talk brass tacks.

• Regulatory Paralysis: In the U.S., new nuclear technology must crawl through a labyrinth of outdated NRC regulations designed for 1970s-era plants. Microreactors are treated with the same suspicion as full-scale fission monsters.
• Energy Policy Tunnel Vision: Politicians keep pumping tax credits into wind and solar while ignoring nuclear and sodium-ion technologies that are more reliable, scalable, and safer long-term.
• Lithium Lobby: Let’s not pretend big money isn’t part of the problem. The lithium-ion battery market is deeply entrenched and resistant to disruption—even when alternatives are better for the grid and the environment.
• Cultural Fear: Thanks to a half-century of anti-nuclear propaganda, the public still associates anything with “nuclear” in the name with meltdowns, not modern, clean, closed-loop reactors.

Maryland’s Missed Opportunity

Maryland has all the ingredients to lead in energy innovation: a strong tech corridor, proximity to federal R&D, and a history of leadership in public infrastructure. But instead of pushing for on-site micro nuclear units or next-gen battery storage at our new data centers, we’re cutting checks to support Northern Virginia’s grid expansion.

This isn’t just bad policy—it’s a betrayal of Maryland’s energy independence and economic future.

Worse, it undercuts our own environmental goals. Backup diesel generators—still used by many data centers thanks to red tape around cleaner solutions—are emitting more pollutants under the guise of “green progress.”

The Right Path Forward

A right-of-center energy strategy wouldn’t throw the baby out with the clean energy bathwater. It would say:

• Let’s decouple innovation from ideology.
• Let’s fast-track microreactor permitting and pilot deployments in data-heavy corridors.
• Let’s expand battery storage beyond lithium, and start producing sodium-ion solutions domestically.
• Let’s stop subsidizing out-of-state growth and instead power our own future.

It’s time for Maryland—and America—to stop being the middleman in someone else’s energy deal. We can do better than paying to light up Virginia’s server farms. We can power our own innovation economy—if we stop playing defense and start leading with technology.