Graded Minimal and tightening. 9 laws, orders, rulings and local actions, each with its source, reviewed 23 October 2026.
HB 2014 (April 2025) lets 90 MW data centers run on on-site generation outside PSC review; no study fee or tariff applies.
No utility has an approved large-load tariff; FirstEnergy told the PSC in July 2026 it prefers contract-by-contract terms.
HB 2014 (April 2025) bars counties and cities from enforcing zoning against certified 90 MW projects; Putnam County's September 2026 resolution has no force.
The HB 2014 certification program is intact and uncapped, with two Mason County projects certified September 2026 and HB 5381 (April 2026) adding a 50 GW goal.
No water, air or disclosure rule is in force; Nscale's biomass plant received its state air permit in 2026.
Scored on rules in force, 1 to 5. 5 is the most regulated. Pending rules set the arrow.
West Virginia's 2025 law HB 2014 lets high-impact data centers (90 MW or more) and certified microgrids run on their own generation outside local zoning, noise and lighting rules, and sends most of their property tax to the state. In April 2026 Governor Morrisey signed HB 5381, which sets a goal of 50 GW of generating capacity by 2050 aimed at the data center market. In early September 2026 the state certified two projects in Mason County, one of them a $12 billion Starwood campus that would draw 2.16 GW from the grid. Opposition has grown in Tucker County over the proposed Ridgeline gas plant and data center and in Mason County, and the state NAACP has called for a moratorium of at least two years. In August 2026 the governor and legislative leaders issued a Responsible Data Center Development Plan that promises ratepayer protection and an advisory council on local standards, none of it yet in statute. No utility has an approved large-load tariff; FirstEnergy has proposed individual contracts instead.
The Public Service Commission's proposed HB 2014 rule on supplying power to data centers, filed 15 October 2026 without the earlier coal-dispatch language, needs legislative approval in the 2027 session, where changes to HB 2014 on local control, county tax shares and ratepayer protection are also expected to be debated; the Treasurer's 15 October analysis putting the two Mason County projects' revenue at more than $231 million a year, 70 percent of it to the state, will feed that tax-share debate. Nscale's Monarch campus is under construction, with DEP filings reported 22 October describing significant environmental impacts and erosion failures at the site, and the terms on which Starwood's 2.16 GW would be served from the grid have not been published. The Public Service Commission has a pending FirstEnergy request for a $2.47 billion, 1,200 MW gas plant in Monongalia County justified by data center demand. Putnam County's October 2026 resolution asking hyperscale developers to fund upgrades and secure their own power has no force of law under HB 2014.
No. As of 23 October 2026 no statewide or local moratorium on data centers is in force in West Virginia. Proposals and expired pauses are not counted.
Tightening. West Virginia is graded Minimal, which means few binding rules, with new incentives or fast-track permitting in force. State overrides local zoning to recruit self-powered data centers. The outlook above says what is pending.
West Virginia sits in PJM. The grid operator decides how a new large load is studied, what it must bring or pay, and whether it can be curtailed first; the state decides siting, permits, tariffs and incentives.
No. West Virginia's data center incentives were not pulled back in 2025 or 2026 as of 23 October 2026.
On Genloop's five-line rubric (1 least regulated, 5 most) West Virginia scores grid connection 1, power rates 1, siting and land use 1, tax treatment 1, permits and water 1, a mean of 1.0. The most regulated line is tax treatment: The HB 2014 certification program is intact and uncapped, with two Mason County projects certified September 2026 and HB 5381 (April 2026) adding a 50 GW goal.
9 items: each is a law, order, tariff, ruling, utility action or local decision that changes what a data center must do, pay or disclose, or where it may be built. Failed and pending measures are marked. Each links to its source.
On 15 October 2026 the Public Service Commission issued an order filing its proposed rule on supplying power to data centers, required by HB 2014, with the Secretary of State. An earlier draft had pushed utilities toward running coal plants at a 69 percent capacity factor through self-scheduling in PJM, which AEP and FirstEnergy subsidiaries and consumer advocates opposed; that language was dropped from the filed version. The rule still needs legislative approval in the 2027 session.
Source: wvpublic.orgGovernor Morrisey announced at the state Chamber of Commerce business summit, reported 8 September 2026, that the Department of Commerce had certified two Mason County projects under HB 2014. Nscale's Monarch Compute Campus near Point Pleasant, already under construction, would be powered by an on-site biomass plant with carbon capture that received a state air permit earlier in 2026, with no power sold to the grid. Starwood Digital Ventures' Project Tamarack, about 20 miles north, is a planned $12 billion investment needing 2.16 GW from the existing grid with closed-loop cooling; the governor said Starwood will pay for the infrastructure so existing ratepayers are not charged. A residents' group, Mason United, opposes the Monarch project, and a 15 October 2026 Treasurer's Office analysis puts the two projects' tax revenue at more than $231 million a year, 70 percent of it to the state.
Source: newsfromthestates.comAt a regular Tuesday meeting reported on 2 October 2026 the County Commission approved a resolution asking hyperscale data center developers to pay for water, sewer and power upgrades, secure dedicated power without shifting grid costs to residents, use sound enclosures, dark-sky lighting and landscape buffers, and take community input on tax allocation. Delegate Kathie Hess Crouse said it does not have the force of law, since HB 2014 bars counties from limiting certified projects; the county's Google-linked site sits on the Putnam and Mason line.
Source: wvgazettemail.comAnnounced 11 August 2026 by the governor and legislative leaders. It says developers must supply their own power and pay for their own infrastructure, proposes a Data Center Advisory Council to recommend statewide setback, noise and siting standards, and keeps the tax split that sends 50 percent of project revenue to income tax reduction. Critics note the ratepayer protections are not in HB 2014.
Source: wvpublic.orgFirstEnergy asked the Public Service Commission to approve a $2.47 billion, 1,200 MW plant in Monongalia County with a 2.3 percent annual rate increase; a public hearing was held 15 July 2026. Consumer advocates asked for a large-load tariff, which FirstEnergy rejected in favor of contract-by-contract terms.
Source: wvpress.orgThe Commerce Department told Fundamental Data on 18 June 2026 that it had violated filing requirements for microgrid and high-impact data center certification for its proposed Ridgeline gas-fired microgrid and data center near Davis, then rescinded the notice on 1 July 2026 after the company described its plans as conceptual. The West Virginia Highlands Conservancy said it would ask DEP to investigate the company's April 2025 air permit application over a disputed claim of site control; no certification has been issued.
Source: wvhighlands.orgSigned 9 April 2026. The law aims to more than triple generating capacity to 50 GW by 2050, requires rolling five-year plans to keep coal plants running through 2050, and is pitched at supplying data centers in and beyond the state.
Source: eenews.netDraft rules for the certified microgrid and high-impact data center program were out for comment until 10 December 2025. Under the law the host county keeps 30 percent of the property tax, 50 percent goes to the state income tax reduction fund, 10 percent to other counties and 5 percent each to two state funds.
Source: westvirginiawatch.comSigned April 2025. Counties and municipalities cannot enforce zoning or other rules that limit certified microgrid districts or data centers of at least 90 MW, and those data centers may be served by on-site generation outside normal utility commission review. The law also removed the earlier requirement that such districts use renewable power.
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