Michael Sherman|Published
A US AI data centre in Virginia, USA, ran its backup generators continuously for 24 hours, forcing nearby residents to flee their homes as local air quality rapidly deteriorated.
Last week, it was reported that the Vantage Data Centers VA2 Campus in Sterling, Virginia, activated its generators following a power failure at 8:15 p.m. By the following morning, local residents were instructed to evacuate their homes due to the heavy volume of smoke produced.
However, local authorities acted with extra urgency partly because smoke from Canadian wildfires was already drifting across the region at the time.
The reason the data centre was forced to run on backup generators for such an extended period is that the facility is not connected to the main electric grid. Instead, it relies entirely on eight natural-gas turbines for primary power. Consequently, when the natural gas delivery system failed, the facility had no choice but to keep operating on diesel generators.
The Importance of Digital Transformation for South African Businesses
Under standard operations, generator runtimes are typically limited to 10 to 30 minutes during routine testing phases. Running them uninterrupted for several hours was highly irregular, resulting in a severe impact on the surrounding community.
Meanwhile, back in South Africa, as many as 90% of businesses rely heavily on digital tools across their supply chain and distribution networks.
According to Standard Chartered’s 2026 Future of Trade report, these digital tools are increasingly deployed to counter and mitigate ongoing disruptions throughout global supply chains. Although the report emphasises that the trading landscape remains complex, 59% of respondents confirmed that digital transformation continues to be a top recurring priority.
Ultimately, the faster South Africa adopts digital tools—such as artificial intelligence—across every industry, the better positioned local businesses will be to scale up and compete on the global stage.