W. Va. Code § 11-6N-2 — WV Code / Chapter 11 / Article 6N / Section 2
§11-6N-2. Definitions.
Status: reserved

(a) General — When used in this article, words defined in §11-6N-2(b) of this code have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except in those instances where a different meaning is provided in this article or the context in which the word is used clearly indicates that a different meaning is intended by the Legislature.

(b) Definitions — For purposes of this section, the following terms shall mean:

(1) "Affiliated group" means one or more chains of corporations, limited liability entities, or partnerships, or any combination thereof, connected through the ownership of stock or ownership interests with a common parent which is a corporation, limited liability entity, or partnership, but only if the common parent owns directly, or indirectly, a controlling interest in each of the members of the group.

(2) "Base assessed value" means the taxable assessed value of all data center property of a high impact data center as shown upon the landbooks and personal property books of the assessor on July 1 of the calendar year preceding certification as a high impact data center.

(3) "Current assessed value" means the annual taxable assessed value of all data center property of a high impact data center as shown upon the landbook and personal property records of the assessor.

(4) "Critical IT load" means that portion of electric power capacity, expressed in terms of megawatts, which is reserved solely for owners or tenants of a data center to operate their computer server and required supporting equipment.

(5) "Data center property" means property used exclusively at a data center to construct, outfit, operate, support, power, cool, dehumidify, secure, or protect a data center and any contiguous dedicated substations. The term includes, but is not limited to, construction materials, component parts, machinery, equipment, computers, servers, installations, redundancies, and operating or enabling software, including any replacements, updates and new versions, and upgrades to or for such property, regardless of whether the property is a fixture or is otherwise affixed to or incorporated into real property.

(6) "High Impact Data Center" means a facility or group of facilities that:

(A) Consists of one or more parcels in this state, along with the buildings, substations and other infrastructure, fixtures, and personal property located on the parcels;

(B) Is owned, operated, or leased by an entity or affiliated group of entities;

(C) Is used to house and operate equipment that receives, stores, aggregates, manages, processes, transforms, retrieves, researches, or transmits data; or that is necessary for the proper operation of equipment that receives, stores, aggregates, manages, processes, transforms, retrieves, researches, or transmits data;

(D) Has a critical IT load in the aggregate of 90 megawatts total or higher; and

(E) Is placed into service on or after July 1, 2025.

(7) "Incremental value", for any high impact data center, means the difference between the base assessed value and the current assessed value. The incremental value will be positive if the current value exceeds the base value, and the incremental value will be negative if the current value is less than the base assessed value.

(8) "Microgrid power generator" includes any entity supplying power under the rules provided in §5B-2-21 of this code to a high impact data center.

(9) "Microgrid power generator property" means and includes any and all property used by microgrid power generator within a certified microgrid district.

(10) “Situs county” means the county or counties in which any High Impact Data Center property subject to tax is located, in relative proportion to the amount of data center property located therein.

(11) "Tax increment" means the amount of regular levy property taxes attributable to the amount by which the current assessed value of real and tangible personal property that is data center property of a high impact data center exceeds the base assessed value of the property.