Areas · county desk
Reel pickup in Loudoun County: Data Center Alley and its power lines
LEESBURG, Va. — Loudoun County holds what it calls the most connected place for data centres on earth, and the power lines being built to feed them, and both leave empty cable reels behind. The desk collects from job sites and yards across the county and delivers spools there too.
From the reel desk · Checked 9 November 2026
Schematic line map, not to survey: Loudoun County marked, with Route 28, Route 7, Dulles Toll Road drawn heavier. The Potomac, the Anacostia, the District line and the Beltway are drawn for bearings.
Fact box: Loudoun County
- Data-centre buildings
- About 233, 56.5 million sq ft built or under construction (1 March 2026)
- Permitted in 2025
- Over 10 million sq ft, a record
- Approved, not built
- 35.7 million sq ft
- Transmission work
- Aspen to Golden, Golden to Mars, BECO to Firehouse and more
- Town pages
- 4
The numbers
Loudoun County’s own account, as of 1 March 2026, counts about 233 existing data-centre buildings, with some 56.5 million square feet built or under construction. More than 10 million square feet was permitted in 2025, a record. Another 35.7 million square feet, about 115 buildings, is approved and not yet built, and 21 more applications covering about 56 buildings were in process. The county ended by-right data-centre development in 2025, so new projects now need a special exception, but the approved pipeline alone is years of work.
The county traces the industry to AOL’s headquarters in Ashburn in 1996 and UUNet’s arrival in 1998, and calls Ashburn the most connected place for data centres on earth. Most of the existing buildings went up between 2019 and 2024.
What that means for reels
Every one of those buildings is wired with medium-voltage feeders, copper distribution, grounding, control cable and fibre. All of it arrives on reels. A single building can leave hundreds of them over its fit-out, in every size from 24 to 84 inches, wood and steel, from several makers. Steel and returnable reels go back to their makers. Wooden reels in full truckloads of a single brand may qualify for a maker program. Everything else, which is a lot, is what the desk handles.
The power lines
Loudoun’s transmission page lists the lines being built or proposed to feed this load. Among them: Aspen to Golden, a new 500/230 kV line with two substations in the Ashburn area, approved by the State Corporation Commission in February 2025 and affirmed by the Supreme Court of Virginia in February 2026; Golden to Mars, a 500/230 kV line with Lockridge and Sojourner loops; BECO to Firehouse, two 230 kV lines of about a mile near Gloucester Parkway in Sterling; Mars to Wishing Star in the Brambleton and Dulles area, under construction; and Morrisville to Wishing Star, a 500 kV line from Fauquier through Prince William. Transmission conductor and underground cable come on the largest reels of all.
Supply houses
Graybar has a Sterling branch, and Shepherd Electric, which Graybar bought, has a Sterling location about 1.4 miles away. Distributor yards near Route 28 see reels come back from contractors every week.
Buyers
Western Loudoun is farm, vineyard and horse country, and big reels are in demand there. The eastern suburbs ask for table-height reels.
Roads
Route 28 runs north and south through the data-centre corridor between Dulles Airport and Route 7. The Dulles Toll Road and Greenway carry east-west traffic toward Leesburg; Route 7 runs from Tysons through Sterling and Ashburn to Leesburg.
Town pages
Four Loudoun places have their own pages: Ashburn, Sterling, Leesburg and Dulles.
Sending a request from Loudoun County
- Count and measure. Count the reels and measure the largest flange edge to edge across the face. A photo with the tape in it is better than a guess.
- Check the build. Nailed lumber, plywood sheet, steel or plastic. Look for a stencil or tag naming the maker and the reel number.
- Set aside steel and tagged returnables with their serial numbers. Those go back to the maker, not to the desk.
- Say where they stand: yard, dock, garage level, alley or curb, plus clearance, gate hours, badging or escort a driver needs.
- Say what loads them: forklift, pallet jack, loader, ramp, or only people. Reels over 42 inches weigh more than 100 lb empty.
- Say how often: one time, weekly, monthly or at each job close-out.
- Buying instead? Give the flange and height you want, how many, and how the reel gets from the truck to where it will sit.
- No form handy? Email info@dcwoodenspools.com with the same details and a few photos.
Reels you are likely to have
| Reel | Build | Flange | Traverse | Drum | Lb | Usually carries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C-5 | Nailed wood | 23 | 17 | 12 | 34 | Copper building wire, grounding |
| A-10 | Nailed wood | 30 | 22 | 16 | 66 | Service drop, bare aluminium |
| N-24 | Nailed wood | 36 | 28 | 14 | 83 | Insulated and multiplex cable |
| A-29 | Nailed wood | 42 | 28 | 21 | 154 | Overhead conductor, feeders |
| A-38 | Nailed wood | 48 | 28 | 24 | 212 | Aluminium and ACSR, large feeders |
| A-62 | Nailed wood | 60 | 28 | 28 | 397 | Utility conductor |
| A-76 | Nailed wood | 66 | 28 | 30 | 473 | Heavy conductor |
| S-120 | Steel, returnable | 84 | 36 | 42 | 895 | Transmission and medium voltage |
Other makers' reels differ by an inch or two. All flange sizes · How to measure
Questions the desk gets
Does the desk work on active data-centre sites?
Yes, through the site's own access rules. Tell the desk the gate, the badging and the hours.
Does by-right ending in 2025 mean fewer reels?
Not soon. Loudoun counts 35.7 million sq ft already approved but not built, plus applications in process.
Sources
Each opened and read on 9 November 2026.
- Loudoun County, Data Centers: The Loudoun Story: counts as of 1 March 2026: about 233 data centre buildings, 56.5 million sq ft; over 10 million sq ft permitted in 2025; 35.7 million sq ft approved but not built; by-right development ended in 2025
- Loudoun County, Transmission Lines in Loudoun County: status of Aspen to Golden, Golden to Mars, BECO to Firehouse, Evergreen Mills, Global Plaza Extension, Mars to Wishing Star and the Potomac Edison Goose Creek rebuild
- inside.lighting, Graybar expands in Baltimore-DC, acquires Shepherd Electric (2023): Graybar branches in Lanham and Sterling; Shepherd locations in Baltimore, Laurel, Frederick, Washington and Sterling