Because I used to live there and know the electric company was, prior to being acquired by a bigger one, well run by engineers (a good idea if you have nukes...), I expected their power rates at (eventual) massive data-center scales to be good.
While I'm not sure I believe the "We're Great!" first thing I found with Google indicating the possibility of a rate even lower by a few tenths of a cent, it looks good ... except of course per Google the exchange rate is running 1-0.75. Still, their power should be pretty affordable, I'd more worry about tradeoffs in more expensive real estate vs. easier hiring of talent and the other advantages of being in a major telecom metro area.
And their are other advantages as noted by others in this sub-thread, and doesn't AWS have its biggest region in NoVA?
While I'm not sure I believe the "We're Great!" first thing I found with Google indicating the possibility of a rate even lower by a few tenths of a cent, it looks good ... except of course per Google the exchange rate is running 1-0.75. Still, their power should be pretty affordable, I'd more worry about tradeoffs in more expensive real estate vs. easier hiring of talent and the other advantages of being in a major telecom metro area.
And their are other advantages as noted by others in this sub-thread, and doesn't AWS have its biggest region in NoVA?