State’s Sixth Data Center Announced Near Wheeling 

A data center project has been announced in the Wheeling area on the site of a former iron foundry.  

Silicon Foundation Energy purchased the former Centre Foundry in Ohio County to convert into a data center and energy technology campus.      

For more than 180 years, the Centre Foundry company cast everything from Civil War cannonballs to decorative iron trim until its closure in 2023.  

Now, Silicon’s website says a three-phase plan will start with developing 10 megawatts of energy directly from the existing energy grid to create a modular data center system on the site.  

Phase two would constitute a 20- to- 30-megawatt expansion before ultimately scaling up to a 100-megawatt regional compute hub through infrastructure buildout.  

Silicon’s website also highlights gas infrastructure for backup power, as well as access to river water for liquid cooling. 

The Centre Foundry project is the sixth major data center to formally begin development in West Virginia since the state legislature created high impact data center and microgrid development programs last year. 

The law that created those programs, House Bill 2014, also exempts the projects from any county or municipal oversight including zoning, building permitting or other local license requirements. That stipulation has been at the center of community concern and pushback against data centers in West Virginia. 

Tuesday evening Del. Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, hosted an impromptu town hall meeting at the Warwood Vets Association. In a post about the Centre Foundry project before the meeting, he said that taking away people’s voices in the process “was exactly the intent of House Bill 2014, among many other concerns.” 

“When I warned that the Legislature’s data center bill stripped away local control and questioned lawmakers, I was told not to worry. I was told there would be community involvement. Today, we’re seeing exactly why that mattered,” Fluharty wrote. “Whether you support this project or oppose it isn’t the point. The point is that the people who live here should have a meaningful voice before projects of this magnitude are approved. Our communities deserve transparency and our local officials should have a say.” 

After the meeting, Fluharty said the conversation was just getting started.