Compass Datacenters IAD campus (Thunderball Drive), Leesburg

approved Campus

Operated by Compass Datacenters, LLC

Virginia DEQ issued Compass Datacenters, LLC an amended air permit (Registration No. 74160) on November 21, 2025 for emergency diesel engine gen-sets at its Leesburg data center campus on Thunderball Drive, superseding the permit dated January 20, 2023. The equipment list covers 75 previously permitted Cummins QSK60-G15 gen-sets rated 2,000 ekW each, originally permitted September 12, 2018, plus 5 newly permitted units of the same model and rating.

Land use jurisdiction: Town of Leesburg

01

Measurements on record

Power

Backup generators 80 units (design) source
Backup generation capacity 160 MW (design) source
02

Permitting path

Approvals on record for 1 of 11 path steps; latest: DEQ air permit (generators) (2025-11-21).

Virginia's sequence runs through county land-use case records to DEQ air permits; rezonings and special use permits are the public record spine, and DEQ publishes the data-center air permit register.

DateStepAuthorityInstrumentStatus
2025-11-21 DEQ air permit (generators) Virginia Department of Environmental Quality Article 6 minor NSR permit (amended), Registration No. 74160
Article 6 minor NSR permit (amended), Registration No. 74160 (original)
on record
Site control (deed or lease) not yet requested
Special use permit / site plan Town of Leesburg not yet requested
Rezoning
applies where the site's zoning does not already allow the use
Town of Leesburg not yet requested
Natural gas service
applies where the facility uses natural gas
not yet requested
Utility interconnection (PJM queue) not yet requested
Sewer service commitment Town of Leesburg (sewer service) (municipal limits) not yet requested
Water service commitment not yet requested
Building permit Town of Leesburg not yet requested
Stormwater (VSMP permit)
applies where land disturbance passes permit thresholds
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality not yet requested
Public agreements and incentives
applies where negotiated with the host jurisdiction
Town of Leesburg not yet requested
Go-live not yet live

Steps without a record are shown as not yet requested or not on record: absence of a record here is a records gap, not a finding about the facility. An authority shown for an empty step is the body that would issue it. Some authorities are shown before any record exists, from mapped utility service areas or, for sewer service, from municipal limits; these carry a marker naming the basis.

Site control comes first in every path: a proponent must hold a deed, lease, or purchase option on every parcel of the site before it can apply. Parcel and ownership records have not yet been pulled for this facility.

About this path and the law behind each step: the law on record for this jurisdiction

03

Location and sources

Leesburg, Loudoun County, Virginia

Every record links to its source: public records, press reporting, and openly licensed datasets including Epoch AI, Wikidata, and US EPA. Full sourcing and per-source licensing: methodology · sources.