Photo by Shelley Hanson Belmont County Commissioners Vince Gianangeli, J.P. Dutton and President Jerry Echemann said Wednesday they did not know about a company’s proposed plan to construct a 2-3 gigawatt datacenter on thousands of acres somewhere in Belmont County.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Belmont County commissioners learned Wednesday of a proposed large artificial intelligence data center that may be coming to the county.

St. Clairsville resident Paul Cameron, also a state representative candidate for Ohio’s 95th District, said he recently learned of a company, EnergiAcres, that wants to construct a 2-3 gigawatt data center on thousands of acres somewhere in Belmont County.

The commissioners — President Jerry Echemann, Vince Gianangeli and J.P. Dutton — said they were not aware of the proposal.

Cameron said the company plans to have the data center operational by the second quarter of 2029. According to the company’s website, the project is in the planning stages and is referred to as “The Real Stargate Ohio.”

“Located in Belmont County, Ohio — one of the state’s most energy-rich corridors. Proximity to major gas infrastructure and transmission lines enables fast, cost-effective interconnection. (It would use) 2-3 GW of firm power generation across thousands of acres, designed for phased build-out. Behind-the-meter architecture keeps energy costs predictable for large compute tenants,” according to the company website. “Currently in active planning and permitting. Target commercial operation date of Q2 2029, with site preparation and civil works beginning ahead of schedule.”

Cameron said he researched potential sites for the project within the county.

“I was previously a surveyor and I did some research on the county GIS and honestly the only place that I can find that has that much contiguous acreage that is owned by one owner is property owned by Silhouette Hills,” he said. “They have about 2,500 acres between Barnesville and Fairview; that would be between Dickinson Ranch and the interstate,” Cameron said. “I know there is some gas production that is planned for Egypt Valley, which would give proximity to them for that.”

Cameron said he wanted to make the public aware of the proposed project. He noted he attended a town hall meeting hosted by Delegate Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, in Wheeling on Tuesday night about a proposed data center in Warwood by a different company.

“They had just found out about it two days prior. So these things pop up and sometimes local and even state government don’t even know it’s happening until it’s happening,” Cameron said.

Echemann thanked Cameron for bringing the matter to the commission’s attention.

“It’s the first I’ve heard of it,” he added.

EnergiAcres officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

After the meeting, Cameron said he has learned of proposed data centers in other parts of the region, including one between Toronto and East Liverpool at the Empire-Stratton Power Plant site and another in Harrison County at the former Consol Coal property off Ohio 9.

He noted Harrison County is already home to a bitcoin mining operation in Hopedale. He visited the site and said there is a constant humming sound coming from it. He added another data center site has been constructed in Harrison County but has not yet been energized.

According to published reports, EnergiAcres previously proposed a data center campus in Mansfield, Ohio, but the project was rejected by the mayor in April after the proposal required annexation of land.