FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 1, 2026
CONTACT: Dana Kuhnline, 513 601 9854, [email protected]
APPALACHIA – Today, ReImagine Appalachia hosted a virtual session in which experts explored the potential in Appalachia for putting new data centers on existing industrial sites and brownfields. Organizers sought to leverage the surge in data center development to create new economic opportunities, colocating facilities alongside other industries to strengthen resource sharing & economic diversification while avoiding needless bulldozing of community and natural spaces.
“We want to see data centers–and all development–use sustainable development principles, which includes a business framework that measures success based on a company’s impact on the people, the planet, alongside their profits,” said Rike Rothenstein, Senior Research Associate at ReImagine Appalachia.
At this virtual session, Jake Higdon, founding director of Advanced Industrial Zones, discussed the “zone-based” approach to redeveloping brownfields in which sites could host multiple types of facilities that accommodate the needs of surrounding communities. Data center hyperscalers, he argued, could serve as anchor tenants that could contribute to broader industrial ecosystems. For example, data centers could share space with new manufacturing operations. The facilities’ needs related to building materials and tech components could create opportunities for long-term regional jobs. Colocation could create opportunities for resource sharing between industries and provide stable work for small- and medium-sized manufacturers.
“How do we leverage the legacy industrial assets of the region, the brownfields, the power infrastructure, the rail infrastructure, things of that nature that we’ve all been talking about today, and the data center investment boom to think about not just investing in sustainable infrastructure broadly, but in that next wave of industry in capturing the electro-industrial opportunity?” said Jake Higdon, founding director of Advanced Industrial Zones and a fellow with California.
Watch the full recording for “Data Centers and Brownfields” here.
Team members from ReImagine Appalachia gave a detailed overview of the approximate number and locations of shuttered power plants and other brownfield sites in the region that could be used for new industrial development.
Speakers included:
- Jake Higdon, founding director of Advanced Industrial Zones and a fellow with California Forward and the Center for Public Enterprise.
- Katie See, Assistant Director, Brownfields Assistance Center at WVU, Mid-Atlantic TAB
- Bikash Gupta, Sustainable Manufacturing Research Analyst at ReImagine Appalachia
- Rike Rothenstein, Senior Research Associate at ReImagine Appalachia
About ReImagine Appalachia
ReImagine Appalachia is a coalition working to ensure Appalachia is a leader in the clean energy economy and that the new economy creates good jobs and strengthens communities.