County hears business plan for proposed Milford data center and energy campus; officials discuss power, timeline and jobs

County economic development staff and outside consultants presented a business plan for a proposed data center and energy campus near Milford, outlining potential tenants, power needs and a multi-year development timeline.

The plan matters because it could attract large private and federal tenants, increase local construction and technical employment and require interagency coordination for power and permitting.

Jen Zeigler, county economic development director, introduced Robert Rayland of RW Partners and said the county has engaged several marketing and technical firms, including JLL to market the site, Blue Ivy Partners to reach the intelligence community and Jacobs Engineering to develop preliminary site plans and renderings. Rayland said those outreach efforts have produced interest from the intelligence community and other large users, though no tenant names were disclosed.

Consultants described a preliminary planning envelope (the initial state plan cited up to 960 megawatts) and said the team is negotiating power arrangements. The presenters said they are working on a draft power purchase agreement with Fervo and have discussions underway with current natural-gas pipeline operators to deliver up to 20,000,000 decatherms of gas to the area. Consultants said the intelligence-community interest often drives requirements for off-grid or highly resilient power, and that temporary generation using natural gas could be used during buildout.

Timing discussed in the meeting: county staff said they will issue a call for offers on April 1 and hope to close on the property in the fall. Consultants estimated final commercial delivery of some power phases could arrive in the 2028 time frame; Fervo indicated a 3-to-4-year delivery horizon for its capacity. Consultants emphasized that actual buildout will be scalable: individual tenants will define final power and building footprints, and data-center buildings commonly employ 20 to 35 permanent workers each, with construction workforces larger during build phases.

Officials also addressed local planning topics such as road realignment (consultants proposed moving Geothermal Road to avoid bisecting the site), height and design standards (the plan anticipates structures up to roughly 75 feet), and community mitigation (consultants discussed on-site or nearby workforce housing options and potential public education about renewable/energy displays on county property). Consultants said the project is intended to minimize water use relative to other industrial users.

Commissioners asked about air-quality and permitting implications; presenters noted existing legislative proposals to allow large energy users to seek direct permitting with the state utility commission and said Beaver County's air-quality context may be advantageous for some off-grid generator strategies.

The presentation closed with staff noting the long lead times for power and permitting and affirming the county intends to pursue local hiring and contractor participation where feasible. No formal action was taken on the business plan at the meeting; the item was presented for information and next steps.

Local officials said they will return with refined plans and permitting requests when a tenant offer is firm.