Tonight at 6 p.m. the Ohio Power Siting Board holds a public hearing at New Albany High School on a gas-engine power plant that EdgeConneX wants to build to supply its own data centers. The plant, PowerConneX III, would stand off Clover Valley Road in Jersey Township, Licking County. Besides 30 natural gas engines, the application lists 12 diesel emergency generators and four black start engines, Construction Review reports.
Size, Case and Timing
Reports give 430 MW; the group Save Ohio Parks puts it at 450 MW. The case is 26-0361-EL-BGN. If the board approves, Construction Review writes, building could begin late in 2026 with full operation targeted for the end of 2027. When the project was still in pre-application in June, Farm and Dairy noted that it would need a new 24-mile, 24-inch gas pipeline.
It is the third EdgeConneX plant in the New Albany business park. PowerConneX I (120 MW) and II (216 MW) are under construction with battery storage, according to Farm and Dairy, and Construction Review counts seven gas projects in Jersey Township alone.
The Emissions Argument
EdgeConneX says the plant will stay within legal limits, and promises landscaping and buffering against noise. Save Ohio Parks, summarising the air permit application, lists annual potential emissions of 161.3 tons of NOx, 218.8 tons of CO and 23.7 tons of formaldehyde. The group says it has not verified the figures against the application. Opponents also point to the more than 13,000 children living within five miles, and to farmers worried about industrial creep.
The Small Engines in a Big Plant
Next to 30 gas engines, twelve diesel units look like a footnote. They are not. Emergency generators and black start engines sit under their own conditions in an air permit, they need fuel on site, and they have to start when the gas supply and the grid are both gone. For a plant with its own pipeline, the question of what happens when the gas stops is a real one. It decides how many emergency generators are installed, where the diesel is stored (belly tanks or bulk), and how many hours of testing the permit has to allow. Anyone quoting for a site like this should ask early whether the diesel units are part of the plant or of the data center, because the permit, the noise limit and the fuel plan follow from the answer.
Sources: Construction Review Online, Save Ohio Parks, Farm and Dairy