McDowell, WV: data center power outlook

Grid position at a glance

Serving utilities

APPALACHIAN POWER CO, BLACK DIAMOND POWER CO, VIRGINIA ELECTRIC & POWER CO

ISO / market

PJM (PJM Interconnection)

Highest grid access

765 kV

Substations in county

16

Industrial retail rate

8.1¢/kWhState-level EIA-861 industrial average. The map colours by this, not by a per-county rate.

Per-utility rates in county

1 of 3 serving utilities: 8.8¢/kWhLowest to highest industrial rate among the utilities serving this county (EIA-861 Sales to Ultimate Customers). A spread, not the county’s rate, and it covers only the serving utilities that report one.

Interconnection queue

None on record

Proposed generation

None on file (EIA-860M)Units filed with EIA as planned or under construction (Form EIA-860M). Declared intent from the federal inventory, not the interconnection queue and not guaranteed capacity.

Grid carbon intensity

716 lb CO2/MWh

Water withdrawals

3.9 Mgal/dAll uses, freshwater. Water already withdrawn locally, not water available for a new load.

Construction labor near site

20,163 employed in construction within ~120 km (35 of 42 counties reporting)A large build needs hundreds of skilled construction workers on site for one to three years. A county with few of them within commuting range means bussing crews in, per diem, and housing, which is real cost and schedule risk. This counts people employed in construction within about a 120 km drive (BLS QCEW), summed across nearby counties. It is not labor known to be available: most are already committed to other projects, and no public data reveals who is free.

Grid conditions in McDowell

Everything here about McDowell, West Virginia comes from public federal and state records, with the gaps left visible. McDowell reaches 765 kV, an extra-high-voltage class, at its strongest mapped point of grid access. With 16 substations mapped, McDowell has a moderate spread of interconnection points.

McDowell falls inside the PJM market (PJM Interconnection), which governs how its interconnection requests and capacity move. The rate for McDowell is the 8.1 cents per kWh state industrial average (EIA-861), the same figure the map colours by. Across McDowell, reported per-utility industrial rates cover 1 of 3 serving utilities: 8.8¢/kWh, offered only as context beneath the state figure.

The covered queue feeds list nothing for McDowell, West Virginia, which may be quiet or simply uningested. EIA-860M lists nothing planned or under construction for McDowell, West Virginia, which is a national filing and so a real zero. The balancing authority covering McDowell carries a grid carbon intensity of 716.09 lb CO2 per MWh in eGRID.

Reported freshwater withdrawals for all uses in McDowell are 3.87 million gallons per day in the USGS 2015 compilation, existing demand rather than water free for a new load. Around McDowell, some 20,163 people work in construction within about a 120 km commute (BLS QCEW), a measure of reach, not of available crews.

These numbers for McDowell are screening-grade context for the whole county, drawn from public data with the gaps left visible. Read the figures for McDowell, West Virginia together rather than one at a time: grid access matters less without substations near it, and a quiet queue reads differently inside an organized market than outside one. The next step for McDowell, West Virginia is an address-level interconnection study; the county figures here only narrow where to look. For McDowell, West Virginia, the source log below records where each figure comes from and when it was pulled, keeping the provenance visible.

Sources