New data center project coming to Mason County, W.Va., spearheaded by Florida-based real estate group

The West Virginia Department of Commerce has approved and certified two separate high impact data center projects — one previously unannounced — for Mason County, Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced at the state Chamber of Commerce’s business summit last week.

One of those certifications is for the proposed Nscale Monarch Campus, in Point Pleasant. Developers for that project are proposing to build a data center complex that would potentially be powered by a biomass and carbon-capture facility that would generate electricity by burning wood chips as fuel. The power would not be made for sale on the grid. 

The data center and biomass facility — which received an air quality permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection earlier this year — are just part of the massive proposed campus.

The second project — announced by Morrisey for the first time at the annual business summit — would be located about 20 miles north of the Monarch Campus in Mason County. There, Morrisey said, Starwood Digital Ventures plans to invest $12 billion to develop a new data center complex. Starwood Digital Ventures — an arm of the Florida-based real estate firm Starwood Capital Group — currently owns data centers throughout northern Virginia and is working on developing a massive data center complex in Delaware. 

In West Virginia, Morrisey said the Starwood project (dubbed “Project Tamarack”) will require 2.16 gigawatts of power to operate, which it will receive from the existing grid. Morrisey asserted Thursday that the proposed project would not increase power rates for existing ratepayers, saying that Starwood will cover all necessary infrastructure costs.

The data center plans to run on a closed-loop cooling system, which generally uses less water than other systems. No specific source for the water was indicated during Morrisey’s announcement.

Morrisey said that the state began conversations with Starwood officials regarding the project over the last six months. Anthony Balestieri, Starwood Digital Ventures CEO, said that the company was “very excited” to pursue the project, which he said will be a “major contributor to a legacy of success here in West Virginia.”

Balestieri lauded the state law, House Bill 2014, that incentivizes data center developers to locate in West Virginia. He said that the passage of that law last year and the environment it created attracted the company to the Mountain State. West Virginia, Balestieri said, is “at the forefront of defining a clear set of standards for responsible development.”

That same law — which created the state’s certified microgrid and data center program — strips localities from having any power to enforce or create ordinances that would affect data center developments. That includes noise ordinances, zoning ordinances, public health policies and more. The law also diverts 70% of the tax revenue brought in from data center developments away from the county they are located to the state.

Over the past 18 months, residents across the state — from Mason, Mingo and Tucker counties up to the Eastern Panhandle —  have begun organizing against HB 2014, the rules it created and the developers who are looking to take advantage of it. They have spoken out against having their local rights and power stripped away in favor of developers. They worry that the consequences brought by data center developments — for public health, tourism, affordability and more — will drastically change their communities.

In Mason County already, a group — Mason United — has formed in response to the proposed Nscale Monarch Campus. They are concerned over the environmental impacts that the development could bring, especially as several neighbors in the area have already had their homes flooded due to construction occurring at the Monarch site.