Fidelis New Energy has selected Mason County, West Virginia for a lifecycle carbon-neutral hydrogen production facility, a low-carbon microgrid, The Mountaineer GigaSystem, (Mountaineer), and the Monarch Cloud Campus for data centers powered by net-zero hydrogen.
Mountaineer will implement the proprietary FidelisH2 technology, which produces hydrogen with zero lifecycle carbon emissions, combining natural gas, renewable energy, and carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS).
The four-phased project will have each phase producing over 500 MTPD of net-zero carbon hydrogen at an approximate capital cost of $2 billion per phase, excluding associated investments in data centers, greenhouses, etc. The net-zero carbon hydrogen will be used in carbon-neutral hyperscale datacenters, greenhouses, transportation, and steel production. The first FidelisH2 phase of the Mountaineer GigaSystem is expected to be operational in 2028.
Approximately 10 million metric tons per year of CO2 will be stored with over $100 million in annual revenue to West Virginia or approximately $25 million per phase each year, once all four phases are operational.
"The project's four-phase construction plan will not only provide substantial employment opportunities for the local workforce, with 800 full-time jobs and 4,200 construction workers, but it will also have a major positive impact on the region's economy,” said John Musgrave, the Executive Director of the Mason County Development Authority. “The influx of workers and the establishment of the facility will bring additional business, industry, and new technology to Mason County, the state, and the surrounding region, excluding the employment in data centers and greenhouses."
The operating agreement highlighting the terms for the targeted storage capacity and the pore space agreement establishing exclusive rights for CCS in certain areas will be finalized by Fidelis and West Virginia.
Fidelis' H2PowerCool technology, which uses FidelisH2 hydrogen as a net-zero energy source to power and cool data centers, will be used by centers at the Monarch Cloud Campus on land secured by Fidelis within the Mountaineer site and additional acreage within Mason County. These carbon-neutral data centers can be hosted without using off-site indirect carbon offsets or credits.
With the project, the data center capacity is expected to reach 1,000 MW, which represents over $5 billion in additional investment. Waste heat and a portion of the captured CO2 from FidelisH2 production and waste heat from the hyperscale data centers will be used as inputs to co-located greenhouses to decarbonize and lower the cost of food production.
"By combining several proven technologies from leading providers including our FidelisH2 partners Topsoe and Babcock & Wilcox, we are able to produce lifecycle carbon free clean hydrogen at scale, without taking new technology risk,” said Bengt Jarlsjo, Co-Founder, President, and Chief Operating Officer at Fidelis. “Our proprietary net-zero solutions using only proven technologies are attracting significant commercial interest from hydrogen users, data center operators, and greenhouse owners, helping the ARCH2 hub to achieve scale across the hydrogen lifecycle from production through consumption."
Fidelis also announced a letter of intent with Babcock & Wilcox to support the evaluation, development, and delivery of BrightLoop hydrogen projects at the Mountaineer site, expecting four 200 MTPD of net-zero hydrogen production facilities. The technology helps produce economical and clean net-zero hydrogen from waste biomass including fallen trees, sawmill waste, and other solid fuels as well as natural gas combined with CCUS.
