US electric utility Appalachian Power has named the first potential data center locations under its new effort to lure large capital investment and high-paying high-tech jobs to western Virginia. The program is to identify sites that are well suited to support mission-critical facilities.

The utility is a subsidiary of American Electric Power and serves customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee. Its data-center-site program is part of the parent company's larger effort to identify appropriate locations across its entire 11-state service area.

The first two sites on Appalachian Power's list are the Center for Research and Technology in Roanoke County and Progress Park in Wythe County.

Mark Dempsey, external-affairs VP at Appalachian Power, said the program targeted an industry that could bring significant investment and high-paying employment opportunities. "Because electric infrastructure is a key component to economic growth, we are already engaged in the economic development process."

Data center operators are ideal customers for electric utilities. Each site generates a lot of revenue for the energy provider because of high power density, and its load remains largely flat throughout the duration of the contract, which is easy for the utility to manage.

State governments and local economic development bodies around the US are also competing to attract data center construction. While they do not create a lot of new jobs, those jobs are usually high-salary ones, and having lots of data centers in a state projects an image of a place that is in step with the modern high-tech economy.

States usually create tax incentives to lure data center projects and work with electric utilities to lower the cost of power for prospective data center customers.

Virgnia governor Bob McDonnell said projects like Appalachian Power's were important to growing and diversifying the economy in western Virginia. “The company’s confidence in Virginia illustrates why our highly trained and available workforce, favorable regulatory environment and pro-business policies are keeping the Commonwealth at the top of national lists as the best state in which to do business."

The State of Virginia overall knows the benefits of data center projects well, as its northern region, which neighbors Washington, D.C., is one of the largest and most active data center markets in the US.

Site-evaluation criteria in Appalachian Power's new program included electric and fiber-optic telecommunications infrastructure, risk of natural disasters and other hazards, tax policy, incentives and climate, among others. The data center site qualification was conducted by Biggins Lacey Shaprio & Company, a location consulting firm, in partnership with Sugarloaf Associates, an energy advisory group specializing in the data center industry.