NEW ALBANY, Ohio — As some of the world’s biggest companies continue to expand in Ohio, the Buckeye State is quickly becoming one of the most popular spots for data centers.
According to DataCenterMap.com, Ohio’s 152 data hubs trail only three other states in the country, and while the operations inside them are crucial to the companies that build them, they do come with some drawbacks as well.
What You Need To Know
- Ohio is becoming one of the most popular spots for Data Centers
- Google, Meta and Amazon are just a few of the companies that own some of the nearly 100 data centers in central Ohio
- These centers use up enormous amounts of electricity
New Albany Mayor Sloan Spalding is a proponent of these hubs and is working to bring even more of them to his community.
"We've been at this for over a decade, attracting high-tech partners to our community,” Spalding said. "We had available land, reliable water sources and of course, energy and fiber. So, you put those four things together, and you look around the country and New Albany is very well placed for data center growth."
Google, Meta and Amazon are just a few of the companies that own some of the nearly 100 data centers in central Ohio. They’re hubs that store, process and distribute data and play a pivotal role in the companies’ day-to-day operations, but they also use up enormous amounts of electricity, taxing our resources.
"Central Ohio, our peak energy demand is around 4,600 megawatts. And so, one data center is a quarter of that. That's why that is a very big issue,” President of AEP Ohio Marc Reitter said.
Reitter wants to make sure there's enough electricity to go around.
“In fact,” Reitter said, “we're going to more than double our peak energy demand in central Ohio by 2028. And transmission takes a long time to build. You have to go hundreds of miles to build a transmission to bring the power to Central Ohio where you need it."
To help meet the growing demand, AEP filed a tariff proposal to facilitate economic development, but the Ohio Consumers' Counsel worries expansion costs may fall back on the residents, saying, "Data center growth in central Ohio is a good thing. Business in Ohio is welcome. Nonetheless, data centers should be recognized as the cost causers of the significant transmission and distribution investment that AEP is expecting to undertake. Shifting risk and costs from these multi-billion-dollar companies to residential utility consumers is unacceptable.”
Meanwhile back in New Albany, Spalding said the city has enough capacity right now to power the data centers, its households, and the entire community, but he knows that as New Albany's data center family grows, so will the demand for more power.
"It's going to take a pretty big effort,” he said, “on behalf of our elected officials at the State, House, the Governor's Office and industry leaders across the state to really come together and figure out a way that we're going to be able to generate additional electricity for our users."
Until then, Spalding's excited for what's to come and the future of our state.
"Ohio does a great job of educating folks and then they move,” Spalding said. “They go to the coasts for these jobs. And having these I.T. jobs right here in central Ohio gives an opportunity for those Buckeyes to come home and that we can keep those kids here and employed. I'm just happy we get to play a role in that."
Often, data hubs don’t create a lot of jobs. In fact, a hub that the state recently approved is only expected to employ a dozen workers.
As for AEP, its tariff proposal to facilitate economic development and meet this growing demand still needs to be approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.