WV Governor Patrick Morrisey (at podium) flanked by Del. Wayne Clark (left) and State Senator Randy Smith (right). Image courtesy WV Governor’s Office.
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey held a press conference on August 11 to announce a “unified plan for responsible data center development in West Virginia.” The Department of Commerce document referenced by the Governor during the event describes seven “principles” but does not include any specific plan or timetable for achieving those principles.
Promises For Future Action
The most significant new information announced by the Governor on August 11 was the intent to create a “Data Center Advisory Council” that will make recommendations to the Department of Commerce regarding statewide standards for data center projects. Christopher Morris, the Director of the Data Economy Office, had previously discussed the State’s intent to establish this advisory council during a panel discussion co-hosted by the Stubblefield Institute and The Observer at Shepherd University on March 31, 2026.
The Governor’s announcement this week did not include any details on how the council members would be selected or when the council would begin its work.
Data Center Projects Announced So Far
The Data Economy Office in the Commerce Department is responsible for overseeing projects certified as “high impact data centers” (HIDCs) as defined in the HB 2014 legislation that passed with overwhelming margins in the WV House of Delegates and State Senate in the spring of 2025.
Three projects have been announced as HIDCs to date:
Mason County: Monarch Compute Campus
- Developer: Nscale
- Site: 2,250 acres near Point Pleasant
- Power: 8 gigawatts from on-site microgrid (natural gas)
- Water source: Ohio River
- Investment: $20 billion (proposed)
- Schedule: phase 1 operational by 2028; full operation by 2031
- End users: Microsoft (1.35 gigawatts); others not yet announced
Berkeley County: Bedington Project
- Developer: Penzance
- Site: 548 acres near Bedington
- Power: 600 megawatts (from adjacent Potomac Edison Bedington substation)
- Water source: proposed to use recycled water from Berkeley County PSD
- Investment: $4 billion
- Schedule: construction stormwater permit application submitted; site grading planned for completion by end of 2027; no timetable for building construction
- End users: not yet announced
Putnam County: Buffalo Data Center Campus
- Developer: Google
- Site: 1,700 acres north of Buffalo (9 buildings + substation)
- Power: not yet announced
- Water source: not yet announced
- Investment: $10 billion+ (estimate)
- Schedule: not yet announced
- End user: Google
More Eastern Panhandle Projects
In the Eastern Panhandle, there are two projects (in addition to the Bedington project) that appear to qualify as HIDCs but neither have been announced as certified by the Department of Commerce.
The QTS Kearneysville project, on 300 acres Kearneysville (110 acres in Berkeley County and 191 acres in Jefferson County) began the local permitting process with Berkeley County in April 2025, but there has been no activity logged for the project in the County’s online permit system since April 2026.
The Ryan Stuart project on 235 acres north of Summit Point project was disclosed in April 2026 and the company working on this project has indicated that it is still in the very early stages of designing the project.
Published in The Observer Weekly 2026 Aug 13.
By Steve Pearson