A Virginia company with a global footprint is proposing to build a gas-fired power plant in western Licking County to serve a data center it plans in the New Albany International Business Park – one of the many data centers proposed for or operating in Licking County.

EdgeConneX, based in Herndon, Virginia, has given notice to the Ohio Power Siting Board and local stakeholders that its affiliate, PowerConneX Inc., plans to seek state permits to build a plant with a generating capacity of up to 120 megawatts on 48.6 acres northwest of the intersection of Rt. 161 and Mink Street. Industry standards say that 120 megawatts would power as many as 120,000 homes a year.

EdgeConneX has developed more than 80 data centers in more than 50 markets across more than 50 countries, according to its website. It says it has or soon will have built 28 data centers for customers in North America, with the proposed New Albany site being its first in Ohio. Currently, a map on the website shows that its closest data centers to Ohio are in Detroit and Pittsburgh.

If approved, PowerConneX says in its public notice that the purpose of the New Albany facility “is to provide power using natural gas fired equipment that will serve as a primary source of electricity to a data center on the same site.

“Construction is anticipated to begin as early as the fourth quarter of 2025, resulting in commercial operations as early as the first quarter of 2026,” the public notice says about the property on Innovation Campus Way, just west of Mink Street.

PowerConneX New Albany Energy Center representatives will hold a public information meeting about the proposed project from 6-8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at the New Albany-Plain Local Schools Annex Building, 79 N. High St., in New Albany. A second public information session is planned for March 19.

A phone call to the company’s information and communication number was not immediately returned on Monday, Feb. 3.

4915-8384-6930-New-Albany-Energy-Center-1st-PIM-Newspaper-Notice

The demand for electricity has risen rapidly in central Ohio as the number of data centers has grown from one in 2017 to 105 currently.

American Electric Power officials say that the demand is expected to double within the next few years, and it sought tariffs on electricity to its largest customers to ease the cost pressure on residential and smaller commercial customers.

“It is my understanding that hyperscale data centers began to locate in central Ohio because of reliable electric service from AEP Ohio, available fiber connectivity, water resources, and retail choice for generation supply,” Lisa O. Kelso, vice president for customer experience, said in testimony to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio in May 2024 to support the tariffs.

“By 2020, actual data center load exceeded 100 megawatts and by April 2024, actual data center load was approximately 600 megawatts in central Ohio,” Kelso testified. “Data center load is continuing to rapidly accelerate and will reach a total of 5,000 megawatts in central Ohio by 2030 based on signed agreements with the company. 

“Central Ohio’s total load will more than double from approximately 4,000 megawatts to 9,000 megawatts over the course of a decade, and AEP Ohio’s Top 5 customers will all be data center customers by 2030,” she said. 

PowerConneX says in its public notice that it plans to file its application for a generating plant with the Ohio Power Siting Board within 90 days of the second public meeting. The OPSB case number for the project is 25-0090-EL-BGN, and it can be followed on the agency’s website, where it also invites comments on the proposal.

After the siting board receives the application, the agency will review it. If it deems the application complete, it will set a date for a public hearing between 60 and 90 days later. To request notification of the public hearing or submit comments in the docket, contact oPSB at 180 E. Broad St., Columbus, Ohio, 43215, or by phone at 1-866-270-6772, or by email at contactOPSB@puco.ohio.gov.

In a Jan. 29 letter to stakeholders in the vicinity of the proposed power plant, Matthew C. McDonnell, an attorney with Dickinson Wright law firm representing PowerConneX, wrote that “we are contacting you to invite you and your family to the upcoming public information meeting for the PowerConneX New Albany Energy Center project.

“The public information meeting will consist of a traditional in-person open-house poster board session to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to learn about the project and that we have an opportunity to engage with the community regarding our planned electric generation facility,” McDonnell wrote.

Alan Miller writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.

Alan Miller

Alan Miller teaches journalism and writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University's Journalism Program. He is the former executive editor of The Columbus Dispatch and former Regional Editor for Gannett's 21-newsroom USAToday Network Ohio.