Critical Infrastructures : Virginia's Challenge Virginia now is the 12th-most populous state in the U.S. (2000 Census), and has faced significant growth over the last decade, particularly in high technology and internet-based activity. The Commonwealth's unprecedented growth has brought with it an equally unprecedented - and unanticipated - demand on physical and planning resources, at both the state and local level. At the state level, this demand is manifested in the call for higher levels of primary energy services, particularly electricity and natural gas, even as the Commonwealth attempts to deregulate these services, along with increased reliance on telecommunications. At the local level, issues such as right-of-way, growth-based traffic congestion and land use planning have moved to the forefront of the planning agenda. The sectors cited above, along with environmental resources (air and water) and transportation, constitute the major pieces of the Commonwealth's critical infrastructures. In the past decades, individual components have evolved with minimal consideration for their interaction with other systems; this 'approach' has been sufficient to support the rapid expansion of high tech industry, particularly in Northern Virginia. However, in order for this development to continue, and for Virginia to maintain its attractiveness for new industry, a more holistic approach to infrastructure development is needed. The challenge for Virginia also represents an opportunity to provide regional leadership. With more than 650,000 miles (1.05 million km.) of fiber optic cable in place - more than any other state, and home to half of the world's internet traffic, Virginia is well poised to spearhead regional initiatives to 'modernize' these critical infrastructure components. Such a regional approach is increasingly important in light of deregulation of energy services and the changing Federal-State dynamic. One of the key elements in assuring Virginia's energy future is the development of distributed generation, namely, installing generation at or near the end user site. This approach, which is primarily applicable to both commercial and industrial facilities, offers increased reliability precisely by relieving stress on the grid during times of peak demand. Utility-based distributed generation can defer system expansion costs, while private sector generation can (depending on the outfall from deregulation) offer both financial benefits to the end user and environmental benefits to the community and Commonwealth. In particular, incentives encouraging distributed generation offer a means of encouraging local economic development. The link Distributed Generation and Virginia's Energy Security on this page provides additional information about distributed generation, along with additional links to detailed descriptions of individual distributed generation technologies. A more detailed summary of emerging infrastructure issues in Virginia can be found in the paper Critical Infrastructures: Virginia's Challenge.