New Albany data centers hope to provide their own electricity

NEW ALBANY, Ohio (WCMH) -- AEP Ohio said it would take years to build the infrastructure needed to power central Ohio's many new data centers, but some New Albany projects are taking matters into their own hands.

At least two tech companies planning data center campuses in New Albany have plans to build their own power generation facilities rather than relying on local infrastructure. Meta and EdgeConneX are moving toward state approval for on-site, privately owned power generation projects.

In August, an AEP Ohio spokesperson told NBC4 the company cannot keep up with data centers' electricity demands. A single data center can require as much electricity as thousands of homes, and Ohio law does not permit AEP to build new power plants in the state, limiting how much power it can provide.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approved a new AEP data center rate structure in July. The state upheld the ruling this month, allowing AEP to require data centers to pay for 85% of their energy needs every month. The new rate hopes to alleviate burdens on local customers, who have seen rates spike due to data centers' electricity use. See previous coverage of spiking costs in the video player above.

Meta and EdgeConneX are both working on large data center campuses in New Albany, and plan to avoid the AEP rate entirely by generating their own electricity.

EdgeConneX, a data center company planning to develop more than 1.2 million square feet of commercial space into a series of data centers in New Albany, is moving toward approval for its second power generation project. EdgeConneX already received approval for its first facility, PowerConneX I, which it hopes to have up and running by the end of this year.

In late August, EdgeConneX moved forward with PowerConneX II. PowerConneX II, like the first project, will be powered by natural gas. Located on 49 acres in New Albany, PowerConneX II will help power data centers on the same site.

PowerConneX II will have a public hearing on Oct. 29 and an evidentiary hearing on Nov. 6. The hearings are the last step before the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) will rule on the application.

In June, OPSB authorized a 200 megawatt natural gas-powered project by Sidecat LLC, a subsidiary of Meta. Meta broke ground on its first data center project in 2017 and announced this summer that it is working toward the first one-gigawatt AI supercluster, dubbed Prometheus.

Prometheus will cover as much space as most of Manhattan and is expected to go online in 2026. A Meta spokesperson confirmed Prometheus will be in New Albany.

Sidecar's Socrates South Power Generation Project will power an adjacent data center and take up about 20 acres of Sidecat’s 740-acre campus. According to state permit filings, the Socrates South project hopes to be completed by November 2026.

Sidecar LLC anticipates transporting six "superloads" between January and April of 2026, an extremely large transportation project that requires state approval and coordination. EdgeConneX said in state filings that it anticipates transporting two superloads.