West Virginia Announces More Than $81 Billion in New Investment, Driven by Data Center Power Demand

West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey announced more than $81 billion in new private investment on September 3. The investment includes two data center projects requiring a combined 4-plus gigawatts of new power capacity: NScale's $69.2 billion "High Impact" data center (requiring about 2 GW or power and bringing 4,375 construction jobs, 645 permanent) and Starwood Digital Ventures' $12 billion Mason County project (requiring about 2.16 GW of power and supporting about 1,500 jobs). Both companies will cover their own infrastructure costs, and no costs will be passed on West Virginia ratepayers. Both projects will use closed-loop water cooling systems, which will help West Virginia reach its goal of having the lowest Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE) rate in the country. To add power generation, American Electric Power announced plans to acquire the Longview Power Plant.