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Trail: Money, work & the land · step 3 of 8

The big tech and energy story: Twin Valley

By Bedrock Desk

Money, work & the land

1 · Short version2 · Full story (2 min)3 · Dig deeper (3 sources)

1The short version

Diversified Energy, a Birmingham, Alabama gas producer that bought Buchanan County gas wells in 2025, wants to put a fuel cell running on coal-mine methane on the athletic fields and flat land around the former Twin Valley High School. Phase one is one unit about the size of two tractor-trailer boxes, producing 1.6 megawatts. Gas would come from the area of Coronado's Oakwood mine. The company says it would create 10 to 20 jobs and offer cheaper power to industrial customers, but no customers have been named and where the electricity would go is unsettled .

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2The full story

About 50 people came to the Oct. 20 meeting at the Whitewood Community Center with questions about jobs, utility bills, and effects on neighbors[6]. A public hearing to convey the school property to the county IDA is set for the board's next meeting in November[20].

Analysis: is this a data center in disguise?
Not as proposed, but it's the right question. In March 2025, Diversified announced a partnership with FuelCell Energy and the investor TESIAC to supply up to 360 megawatts of off-grid power to data centers at three undisclosed sites in Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky, using natural gas and captured coal-mine methane[21]. The company's engineer called data centers "one potential opportunity out there" and wouldn't say whether one could come to the site[20]. For scale, 1.6 MW is tiny next to 360 MW. A first fuel cell looks like a proof of concept, and the company has already said it would want to grow the project or reuse the school's square footage if it gets the property. The upside is real: methane that mines would otherwise vent gets turned into power, and fuel cells produce almost no combustion pollution. The thing to watch is what gets locked in at the property transfer, such as job commitments, a clawback if the jobs don't show up, and limits or terms on future expansion.

3Dig deeper: every source

Every bracketed number above links to its source. Here they all are in one place. If one doesn't say what we said, tell us.

  1. cardinalnews.org/2026/10/23/diversified-energy-project/
  2. virginiamountaineer.com/2026/10/28/energy-proposal-could-bring-jobs-new-use-to-former-twin
  3. investor.fce.com/press-releases/press-release-details/2025/Diversified-Energy-FuelCell-Ene

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