Oct 31 (Reuters) -

Dominion Energy ( D ), the U.S. electric utility powering

"data center alley" in Northern Virginia, said on Tuesday it was

in some stage of contracting to provide data centers with 47

gigawatts of capacity, more electricity than what is needed for

all of Virginia.

The expansion of artificial intelligence and cloud

computing has led to the rapid proliferation of energy-intensive

data centers, which is sending U.S. power demand to record

highs.

Dominion is the world's biggest data center-serving

electric utility, having connected about 450 data centers in

what is known as the data center crossroads of the world in

Virginia.

The company's data center pipeline grew by 17% since the

end of last year.

"We continue to see robust demand from data centers,"

Dominion CEO Robert Blue said on a company call with investors,

who hinted at earlier speculation that the Virginia data center

market may be oversaturated.

To try to keep up with the surging electricity demand from

Big Tech's server warehouses, Dominion said it is expanding its

power infrastructure as part of its 2025-2029 $50 billion

capital investment plan.

"We're developing resources across distribution,

transmission and generation to ensure we meet this critical need

on a timely basis," Blue said on the call, during which the

company discussed its third-quarter earnings.

Dominion beat quarterly profit estimates, helped by

increased power demand in its Virginia and South Carolina

segments.

Adjusted operating earnings from Dominion's Virginia segment

rose 2.5% to $679 million in the third quarter, and that from

the South Carolina segment rose over 14% to $109 million.

Quarterly revenue was $4.53 billion, up from $3.94 billion a

year ago.

However, the company's interest expenses rose over 30% to

$527 million in the third quarter.

Dominion narrowed its full-year operating earnings guidance to

between $3.33 per share and $3.48 per share, from a prior range

of $3.28 per share to $3.52 per share, and expects results to

land at or above the midpoint, assuming normal weather for the

rest of the year.

The utility's operating earnings on an adjusted basis was $1.06

per share for the three months ended September 30, compared with

analysts' average estimate of 95 cents per share, according to

data compiled by LSEG.