Brownfield & Retired Power Plant Sites in Virginia
34 catalogued brownfield and retired-generation sites in Virginia, listed by former capacity. Each carries an existing utility-scale grid interconnection that a new datacenter load may be able to re-use.
At a glance
What kinds of former sites are in Virginia?
By former use, the list includes 9 oil, 8 coal, 7 natural gas, 2 biomass, 2 brownfield, 2 landfill and 4 other categories. Recorded retirement dates run from October 1996 to September 2024, with 19 retirements in 2015 or later. 31 of 33 sites with a measured distance sit within 2 miles of a transmission substation.
How does Virginia compare with other states?
Virginia ranks 22nd of 50 states and DC by number of brownfield and retired-generation sites, out of 2,085 nationally. By recorded capacity (6,693 MW) it ranks 14th, against 289,280 MW across all states. The state also has 5,871 scored datacenter candidate sites, 12 of them classed as brownfield sites, averaging 52.2 on the 0–100 DC Readiness scale.
Where in Virginia are these sites?
- Prince William County · 4
- Chesterfield County · 2
- Giles County · 2
- Richmond City County · 2
- Danville City County · 2
- York County · 1
- Chesapeake County · 1
- Fluvanna County · 1
- Russell County · 1
- Fauquier County · 1
- Mecklenburg County · 1
- Isle of Wight County · 1
- Pittsylvania County · 1
- Portsmouth City County · 1
- Alleghany County · 1
- Montgomery County · 1
- Manassas City County · 1
- Harrisonburg City County · 1
- Rockingham County · 1
- Accomack County · 1
All brownfield and retired plant sites in Virginia
| Site | Former use | Capacity | Retired | County |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Possum Point | oil | 1,373 MW | 2020-12-01 | Prince William |
| Chesterfield | coal | 1,353 MW | 2023-05-01 | Chesterfield |
| Yorktown | gas | 1,257 MW | 2023-05-01 | York |
| Chesapeake | coal | 761 MW | 2019-06-01 | Chesapeake |
| Glen Lyn | coal | 338 MW | 2015-06-01 | Giles |
| Bellmeade Power Station | gas | 330 MW | 2019-03-01 | Richmond City |
| Bremo Bluff | gas | 254 MW | 2019-03-01 | Fluvanna |
| Clinch River | coal | 238 MW | 2015-12-01 | Russell |
| Marsh Run Generation Facility | gas | 196 MW | — | Fauquier |
| Mecklenburg Power Station | coal | 140 MW | 2019-03-01 | Mecklenburg |
| Spruance Operating Services LLC | coal | 115 MW | 2021-01-01 | Richmond City |
| International Paper Franklin Mill | biomass | 110 MW | 2018-06-01 | Isle of Wight |
| Multitrade of Pittsylvania LP | biomass | 90 MW | 2019-03-01 | Pittsylvania |
| Wheelabrator Portsmouth | waste | 60 MW | 2024-07-01 | Portsmouth City |
| Covington Facility | coal | 27 MW | 2013-12-01 | Alleghany |
| Maple Street Substation | brownfield | 9 MW | — | — |
| Park 500 Philip Morris USA | coal | 6 MW | 2013-09-01 | Chesterfield |
| Radford Army Ammunition Plant | gas | 6 MW | 2012-01-01 | Montgomery |
| Dominion/Lo Mar | oil | 5 MW | — | Prince William |
| Bedford Solar Farm | landfill | 3 MW | — | — |
| Dean Drive Area Electric Generators | oil | 3 MW | 2019-03-01 | Manassas City |
| Church Street Plant | oil | 3 MW | 2018-10-01 | Prince William |
| Mineral Gap Data Center | mine | 3 MW | — | — |
| Celanese Acetate LLC | oil | 3 MW | 2003-12-01 | Giles |
| Harrisonburg Power Plant | gas | 3 MW | 2016-06-01 | Harrisonburg City |
| Danville New Design Plant | oil | 2 MW | 2024-09-01 | Danville City |
| Danville Westover Plant | oil | 2 MW | 2020-07-01 | Danville City |
| VMEA 1 Credit Gen | oil | 2 MW | 2007-12-01 | Prince William |
| Salem VA Medical Center Solar | landfill | 2 MW | — | — |
| Elkton | gas | 1 MW | 2022-10-01 | Rockingham |
| Tangier | oil | 1 MW | 1996-10-01 | Accomack |
| Marine Corps Combat Development Command | superfund | 0 MW | — | — |
| Crozet Orchard | brownfield | 0 MW | — | — |
| Stone Brewing Company | power_plant | — | — | — |
Frequently asked questions
How many retired power plants are in Virginia?
GridCensus lists 27 retired power plant sites in Virginia from EIA-860 retirement records. 25 have a recorded retirement date, 19 of them in 2015 or later.
What is the largest retired power plant or brownfield site in Virginia?
Possum Point in Dumfries is the largest by recorded capacity, at 1,372.9 MW. It is followed by Chesterfield (1,352.9 MW) and Yorktown (1,257 MW).
Which power plant in Virginia retired most recently?
Danville New Design Plant has the latest recorded retirement date in the state, September 2024, with 1.8 MW of capacity.
Which county in Virginia has the most brownfield and retired plant sites?
Prince William County has the most, with 4, followed by Chesterfield County with 2.
How many EPA brownfield sites in Virginia have completed cleanup?
7 of the 7 EPA-tracked sites listed for Virginia are recorded as cleanup complete.
Looking for a specific record? The directory lists every brownfield site, A to Z.
More on Virginia, and states with similar counts
- Datacenter candidate sites in Virginia· 5,871 sites
- Electric substations in Virginia· 529 named
- Brownfield candidate sites nationwide
- Brownfield sites by state
- Brownfield sites in South Carolina· 35 sites
- Brownfield sites in Colorado· 33 sites
- Brownfield sites in Connecticut· 36 sites
- Brownfield sites in Alaska· 31 sites
About this data
Source: EIA-860 retired generating units and EPA RE-Powering America's Land contaminated-site records, as published March 6, 2026. See the methodology for how records are matched, cleaned and scored.
Cite as: GridCensus, “Brownfield and retired power plant sites in Virginia”, https://gridcensus.com/brownfield-sites/virginia (data as of March 6, 2026).
Dataset updated . Screening estimates derived from public data sources.
Go deeper than the public screen
Every site and score for brownfield sites in Virginia is free to browse. Pro adds Watchtower on 25 sites, alerts when new candidate sites, datacenters or interconnection-queue requests appear in your markets, score and capacity history, and CSV export. Enterprise adds team seats, weekly data files for all 147,272 sites, the REST API and an MCP server for AI tools.