Second Certified Data Center Announced For Mason County
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey announced two significant data center developments in Mason County: Project Tamarack by Starwood Digital Ventures and Monarch Compute Campus by Nscale. These projects represent billions in investment and emphasize minimal water use through closed-loop cooling systems and developer-funded infrastructure to protect ratepayers from increased electricity costs. The Nscale project also includes a $45 billion deal with Anthropic.
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey unveiled two major data center projects during the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce's 2026 Business Summit, highlighting significant investment and job creation in Mason County. Starwood Digital Ventures received a high-impact data center certification for its "Project Tamarack," an estimated $12 billion investment. Governor Morrisey emphasized that Starwood would fund all infrastructure costs, preventing rate increases for West Virginia electricity customers, and that the project would employ a closed-loop cooling system to conserve water.
In a separate announcement, Nscale's "Monarch Compute Campus," also located in Mason County, received high-impact data center certification. Governor Morrisey announced a surge in Monarch's total client investment to $69.2 billion, including a recently disclosed $45 billion deal with AI company Anthropic. The Monarch project is projected to require two gigawatts of power, create approximately 4,375 construction jobs, and 645 permanent positions. Similar to Project Tamarack, Nscale has committed to using a closed-loop water system and funding its own power infrastructure, ensuring no costs are passed to ratepayers.
These developments align with Governor Morrisey's "50 by 50 energy strategy," which aims to boost West Virginia's power generation capacity to 50 gigawatts by 2050 to support the growing demands of artificial intelligence and other advanced industries.