By Brett Dunlap
For The Parkersburg News and Sentinel
Charleston — The development of a high tech data center will provide jobs and economic development that will benefit the entire state, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced Thursday.
“Penzance Management is making a historic $4 billion private sector investment in the state of West Virginia,” Morrisey said.
The campus of the “high-impact intelligence center” will sit on 548 acres in Falling Waters in Berkeley County. Once it is built, it will cover 1.9 million square feet and deliver 600 megawatts of “critical IT capacity.”
“Maybe a little more,” the governor said with a laugh. “We are working on a little more.”
Morrisey said the project is expected to create over 1,000 construction jobs and at least 125 full-time, permanent jobs.
“When you have permanent jobs in this area, they tend to pay a lot,” he said.
Morrisey said it will be good for people in Berkeley County and the state. The governor cited the microgrid law passed last year by the Legislature to attract data centers to be powered by West Virginia’s natural resources. It also provides for significant amounts of revenue which goes towards helping schools and lowering the state’s income tax rates, he said.
“This is going to be a difference maker in Berkeley County,” Morrisey said. “It is going to be a difference maker for the state as a whole.”
Morrisey said no state funding went into the project, just a lot of “sweat equity and a lot of work” through the site selection, making sure the site has water and sewer as well as strong energy purchase agreements and broadband access.
The infrastructure costs for these intelligence centers are handled by the companies building them, Morrisey said.
“I hope this will be the first of many announcements,” he said.
Victor Tolkan, managing partner with Penzance, thanked everyone in the state for creating an environment for what they want to do.
“We are very excited about this opportunity,” he said. “We have been in this business for some time. As you guys know, demand far outstrips supply today, but supply is getting harder and harder to provide.”
Tolkan said he sees people in West Virginia, at all levels, working together to make these kinds of projects come together.
“We are thrilled to be here,” he said, adding the state’s leadership has created a pro-business environment specifically related to intelligence centers.
The company secures land and builds to suit hyperscalers (large cloud computing providers), he said, adding the hyperscalers become their tenants. He could not say if they had a hyperscaler company lined up for the property yet.
Berkeley County Commission President Eddie Gochenour said this was a fantastic opportunity.
“When you come to Berkeley County, you will get a team and a partner,” he said. “We make things happen, and I think we are going to have a great partnership right here.”
Mossisey said one of his goals since he took office over a year ago was to make West Virginia more competitive with the states around it by increasing energy production, cutting red tape, lowering regulatory barriers to investment, investing in infrastructure and improving the state’s workforce.
“West Virginia is rapidly becoming the best place for business to locate within our region,” the governor said.
“Right now, the U.S. is in a global competition with China and the winner of that fight will be the nation that powers the enormous data demands of tomorrow,” Morrisey said of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, advanced manufacturing and supercomputing.
“West Virginia is poised for so much success into the future,” Morrisey said. “From our cities to our smallest towns we are building momentum.
“We are doing it through responsible leadership, economic growth and a renewed focus on opportunity for every West Virginia family.
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