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West Virginia Data Center Intel

Latest data center news, projects, power and policy across West Virginia — updated daily.

Recent West Virginia data center news

  • Episode for August 21, 2026

    The Allegheny Front has published an episode roundup highlighting Pennsylvania environmental and infrastructure-related developments, including data center regulation and a coal mine review.

    • Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has signed an executive order to rein in data center development, requiring developers to follow new rules, including obtaining approval from local officials.
    • A separate item says the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will conduct an expansive technical review of the Rustic Ridge coal mine in the Laurel Highlands, examining impacts to drinking water, wildlife, and tourism. The roundup also references growing opposition to data center construction and an Archbald Borough local data center rush.
  • US utilities Appalachian Power and 3CE launch RFPS seeking BESS capacity in Virginia, California

    Appalachian Power and Central Coast Community Energy have announced new requests for proposals for battery storage and clean energy resources in Virginia and California.

    • APCo issued two Virginia RFPs on 17 August seeking up to 800MW of energy storage: up to 500MW through purchase and sale agreements and up to 300MW through capacity purchase agreements, with proposals due 30 September 2026.
    • 3CE issued a California RFP on 17 August for at least 20MW offers across five product categories, with PPA start dates no later than 31 December 2032 and proposal deadline 25 September 2026; the article also notes a Battery Asset Management Summit USA 2026 event in Garden Grove, California on 15-16 September.
  • Contested 5-GW Ridgeline Gas, Solar, and Data-Center Complex in West Virginia Clears Site-Control Question

    POWER reports that West Virginia regulators have confirmed Fundamental Data met site-control requirements for its Ridgeline Facility air permit.

    • WVDEP DAQ determined on Aug. 13, 2026 that Fundamental Data had legal site control when the Aug. 15, 2025 Construction Permit R13-3713 was issued for the 291-acre Ridgeline site near Thomas, West Virginia.
    • The article is a news analysis/reporting piece; it references prior permit, appeal, and inquiry actions, and says the project remains under review on other issues. Ridgeline is described as a proposed gas, solar, and data-center complex in Tucker County with about 800 MW gas generation, nearly 1.3 GW solar, 14 data center buildings, and a later 3.1 GW gas-fired phase.
  • Climate Change Solutions - July 28, 2026

    Environmental and Energy Study Institute has published a Climate Change Solutions newsletter highlighting climate data access, data center health impacts, nuclear energy, and several congressional bills.

    • The newsletter spotlights a new online platform, Climate.us, and an interview with Rebecca Lindsey, who discusses filling the gap left by the now-defunct Climate.gov.
    • It also summarizes recent legislative activity, including the House passage of the Next-Generation Geothermal Research and Development Act (H.R. 8790) and Senate movement on the Water Resources Development Act of 2026 (S.4949) and the Wildfire Emissions Prevention Act of 2026 (S.5045).
    • A separate article in the newsletter discusses data center health impacts, noting emissions from on-site diesel generators and from natural gas and coal power plants used to power data centers.
  • Mobilizing for Techno-Economic War, Part 6: From Free Trade Agreements to Strategic Techno-Economic Agreements

    ITIF has published a policy report proposing Strategic Techno-Economic Agreements (STEAs) as a new framework for U.S.-led trade deals aimed at strengthening allied industries and constraining China.

    • The report argues that the free trade era is over and calls for binding, reciprocal agreements with allies that include zero-for-zero tariffs, digital trade rules, defense production cooperation, investment screening, export-control alignment, and counter-IP theft measures.
    • It also cites several recent or existing policy precedents and announcements, including USTR’s March 2026 Section 301 investigations, the U.S.-U.K. critical minerals MOU, and the Pax Silica initiative; the report itself is an original ITIF publication, not a news report of a single transaction.
  • Episode for July 24, 2026

    The Allegheny Front has published an episode roundup covering several Pennsylvania environmental and infrastructure stories, including U.S. Steel’s mill modernization plans, AI tornado forecasting, a renewed solar schools program, and a crowdfunding challenge to a data center project.

    • U.S. Steel is described as investing big money to modernize a mill in the Pittsburgh area, with local reaction split between air pollution concerns and expected economic impact.
    • The episode also notes that Pennsylvania’s Solar for Schools program has been renewed for a third year and is funded at $25 million, covering 75% of school district solar installation costs; another segment says environmental groups are crowdfunding a legal challenge to the Homer City data center project tied to a gas-fired power plant.
  • White House Expands Data Center Ratepayer Pledge as Congress Moves to Codify Protections

    The White House expanded its voluntary Ratepayer Protection Pledge to 187 utilities, electric cooperatives, and data-center developers, while Congress advanced the bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act from committee 52-0.

    • The White House said the pledge now covers 187 organizations plus 23 governors, and the coalition “protects” 263 million Americans; signatories commit to fund generation and grid upgrades for their data-center loads without shifting costs to other ratepayers.
    • The House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced H.R. 9340 on July 21; the bill would require state regulators and nonregulated utilities to consider a large-load standard for sites with at least 100 MW peak demand and recover the full incremental cost of grid upgrades. New York’s Executive Order 62 separately put permits for 50 MW+ data centers on hold pending an environmental review.
  • Episode for July 17, 2026

    The Allegheny Front has released a July 17, 2026 podcast episode summarizing several environmental and infrastructure stories in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

    • The episode notes a movement to slow down data center development in Pennsylvania, while state lawmakers were not ready to repeal a key tax exemption.
    • It also references gas processing facility expansion opposition in rural Pennsylvania, four injection wells in southeastern Ohio that were stopped at the request of state regulators, and forests in Allegheny and Fayette Counties being added to the Old-Growth Forest Network.
  • FBI considers deploying AI LLM supercomputers with Nvidia B300 GPUs or Google TPUs

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is considering acquiring AI supercomputer hardware through a request for information (RFI).

    • The FBI said it seeks information on AI computing products for LLM training, inference, advanced analytics, computer vision, and other secure government workloads.
    • The RFI outlines four hardware categories, including rack-scale AI systems, AI pod architectures, and AI inference accelerators; most deliveries would go to the CJIS Division facility in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
    • The document notes that RFIs are a precursor to procurement and do not guarantee purchase; the FBI could acquire equipment in varying quantities and configurations through delivery orders.
    • Category details include Intel Xeon 6767P or equivalent, HGX B300 eight-GPU assembly, GB300 NVL72-equivalent systems, Google TPU-equivalent architectures, and Nvidia L40-S-equivalent inference hardware.
  • Another Electric Super-Highway Proposed to Serve Data Centers

    Piedmont Environmental Council is issuing an alert about a proposed transmission line project and an open house, rather than announcing a new project itself.

    • Valley Link Transmission, a joint venture between Dominion Energy and two other utilities, has sent notices for the Amos-Rocky Point / “Valley North” project and is holding an open house on July 7, 2026 in Berryville, Virginia.
    • The proposed line would run 260 miles at 765 kV from the John Amos coal plant in West Virginia to the Rocky Point substation in Maryland; Valley Link also plans a 2027 SCC filing for a certificate of public convenience and necessity.
    • The article argues the project is driven by Dominion’s growing data center queue, which it says has reached 70 GW, and notes the project could require a 200-foot right-of-way and towers about 160 feet tall.

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