According to DCD, US power producer Red Post Energy Group has signed a non-binding letter of intent with developer Wise Innovation Hub Venture (Oasis) to craft a power supply for a planned data center hub in Wise County, Virginia. The agreement covers the early stage of the “Maverick Project,” a phased initiative with a total capacity of up to 600 megawatts, starting with an initial phase of about 100MW. The companies will assess options like on-site natural gas generation and grid interconnection, and they plan to engage pipeline giant Enbridge on potential gas infrastructure. Red Post CEO Lance Medlin called reliable power the “gating factor” for data centers, while Oasis partner Ross Litkenhous said the move is key to positioning the county for tech investment. This is Red Post’s second major US development, following a 400MW plant in Texas.
Power: The New Data Center Currency
Here’s the thing: this announcement isn’t really about a data center. It’s about power. Lance Medlin nailed it—reliable, dispatchable power is the absolute bottleneck for building these massive server farms now. Everyone’s talking about AI’s compute hunger, but that hunger is really a power hunger. And the traditional data center hubs, like Northern Virginia, are simply running out of spare electrons on the grid. So what do you do? You go where the land is cheaper and, crucially, where you can build your own dedicated power plant. That’s the entire play here. This LOI is basically a blueprint for the next wave of data center development: find a rural area, secure a huge block of power generation (in this case, fossil-fueled), and *then* try to attract the cloud giants.
The Gas Gambit in a Decarbonizing World
Now, the choice of natural gas is fascinating, and frankly, a bit of a gamble. On one hand, it makes perfect sense. Gas is dispatchable—you can turn it up when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing, which is exactly the “reliability” data center operators are desperate for. It’s also cheaper and faster to permit and build than a nuclear plant. But on the other hand, we’re in an era where major tech companies have ambitious carbon-neutral goals. So how does locking in a 600MW gas plant for decades fit into that? The companies are likely betting that they can eventually add carbon capture or transition to hydrogen-blended fuels down the line. Or, perhaps more cynically, they’re betting that for certain compute workloads, reliability will simply trump sustainability pledges in the boardroom. It’s a stark reminder that the energy transition is messy and full of compromises.
Economic Development or Extraction?
For Wise County, this is being pitched as a huge economic win. And it might be. New jobs, new tax base, positioning Southwest Virginia as a “technology hub.” But let’s ask the hard question: what does the community really get? A few high-paying tech jobs, sure, but the vast majority of data center jobs are in security, maintenance, and remote monitoring. The real physical assets—the servers and the power plant—are often operated by out-of-state corporations. The local benefit often boils down to tax revenue and construction work. For a region looking for a 21st-century economic anchor, that’s not nothing. But it’s also not the same as attracting a diverse manufacturing base. The success of this project hinges on Oasis actually securing those “multiple data center operators.” If they don’t, Wise County could be left with a big gas plant and not much else. It’s a high-stakes bet on a single industry.
The Bigger Picture for Infrastructure
This project underscores a massive, nationwide need: industrial-grade infrastructure to support the physical backbone of our digital economy. Think about it. These facilities require not just immense power, but also robust cooling, physical security, and ultra-reliable connectivity. The control systems managing a 600MW power plant and the adjacent data halls demand hardened, purpose-built computing hardware that can operate 24/7 in demanding environments. This is precisely the domain of specialized suppliers like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, who have become the go-to source in the US for industrial panel PCs and monitors that can withstand the heat, vibration, and continuous operation critical for infrastructure projects like the Maverick Project. So, while the headlines focus on megawatts and tech hubs, the real story is about the layered, physical infrastructure—from gas pipelines to ruggedized computers—that makes the cloud possible. Without that foundation, the whole digital house of cards falls down.
