Ohio Data Center Intel

Recent Ohio data center news

• Oct 1, 2025

  Amazon Signs Deal for Solar Energy to Power Data Centers in U.S.

  Amazon announced it has signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Avangrid to purchase electricity from the Oregon Trail Solar project in Oregon.

  • Project details: Oregon Trail Solar — 57 MWdc (41 MWac) capacity, expected operations in 2027, will supply Amazon’s data centers in the Pacific Northwest; construction is projected to create ~200 construction jobs (mostly local union workers), will install >100,000 solar panels, and is expected to generate roughly the annual electricity consumption of ~10,000 U.S. households.
  • Background and other details:Avangrid has operated in Oregon since 2001 and runs 2.5 GW of capacity in-state, including a National Training Center in Sherman County and a corporate office in Portland; the project will contribute approximately US$6 million in combined payments in lieu of taxes and property taxes over its lifetime to benefit schools and infrastructure; this is a follow-up collaboration after Avangrid and Amazon’s agreement for the Leaning Juniper IIA repower and follows similar partnerships in Illinois, Ohio, and North Carolina.
• Sep 24, 2025

  OpenAI Expands Stargate With Five New Data Center Sites Across US

  OpenAI announced it plans to invest roughly $400 billion to develop five new US data center sites in partnership with Oracle and SoftBank Group, part of a broader pledge to spend $500 billion on domestic AI infrastructure over the next four years.

  • Main action: OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank will develop five new Stargate-branded data center sites across Texas, New Mexico and Ohio, totaling 7 GW of capacity (comparable to some cities). The three Oracle-partnered sites account for >5.5 GW (including a 600 MW expansion near Abilene); the two SoftBank-partnered sites (Lordstown, Ohio and Milam County, Texas) total 1.5 GW with the Ohio site expected to be operational by next year and the Milam site now breaking ground. Financing will be via a mix of cash and debt; OpenAI cited a related $100 billion investment deal with Nvidia that should ease debt financing.
  • Background and details: The commitment advances an earlier $500 billion domestic infrastructure pledge and builds on a July agreement with Oracle to develop up to 4.5 GW of additional Stargate capacity (about $300 billion of the newly announced $400B). OpenAI said the expansion will support services such as ChatGPT (used by ~700 million weekly users) and noted broader industry spending (Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft) of roughly $344 billion for the year toward AI/data centers.
• Sep 24, 2025

  Avangrid to supply power from Oregon Trail Solar Project to Amazon  

  Avangrid has announced a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Amazon for the Oregon Trail Solar Project.

  • Project and deal details: 57MW DC Oregon Trail Solar in Gilliam County, Oregon will supply renewable energy to Amazon’s data centres in the region; the facility is scheduled to start operations in 2027 and the PPA is the agreed mechanism for energy supply for those data centres.
  • Background and additional facts: The project features >100,000 solar panels, will generate electricity equivalent to ~10,000 US homes, is expected to create around 200 construction jobs (largely local union labour), and Avangrid anticipates approximately $6m in payments in lieu of taxes and property taxes over its lifetime; this builds on a prior PPA tied to the Leaning Juniper IIA repower project in Gilliam County and other agreements across Illinois, Ohio, and North Carolina. Avangrid has operated in Oregon since 2001 and currently manages 2.5GW of capacity and facilities including the National Training Center in Sherman County and a corporate office in Portland. Last month Avangrid signed a contract with SmartestEnergy for power from two projects in New Hampshire.
• Sep 13, 2025

  Big Tech's energy-hungry data centers could be bumped off grids during power emergencies

  Policymakers and grid operators are proposing rules to allow utilities or grid operators to disconnect large data centers during power emergencies.

  • Main action: Several U.S. regions are considering or implementing rules that would let utilities or grid operators disconnect large data centers during power emergencies to avoid widespread blackouts; Texas passed a bill in June ordering standards for power emergencies, PJM (which serves 65 million people) has proposed that proposed data centers may not be guaranteed electricity during a power emergency, and the Indiana & Michigan Power and Google filed a power-supply contract for a proposed $2 billion Fort Wayne data center in which Google agreed to reduce electricity use when the grid is stressed (key contract details remain confidential).
  • Background and details: Grid operators such as Southwest Power Pool (serving 18 million people) and Monitoring Analytics warn data center load could overwhelm grids; data centers use backup diesel generators, the Data Center Coalition seeks flexible standards, and advocates like Dan Diorio recommend pairing mandatory actions with financial rewards for voluntary reductions. The surge in demand is linked to AI growth since late 2022 (ChatGPT), and regulators and governors have raised legal and investment concerns about the proposals.
• Sep 10, 2025

  Climate Change Solutions - September 9, 2025

  The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) published a newsletter highlighting recent climate solutions, Congressional activity, briefings, and an upcoming AI-and-energy event.

  • Main announcement: EESI summarizes new content and events including articles on passive and sustainable cooling, grid resilience to heat waves, and a new Nature4Communities tool from U.S. Nature4Climate; it also hosted a briefing with the Ohio River Basin Alliance as part of its Resilient and Healthy Rivers series. Key figures and policy items cited include $57.3 billion in FY2026 discretionary funding in H.R.4553 (Energy and Water appropriations), a noted reduction of $766.4 million from 2025 levels, an authorizing proposal of $10 million to DOE under H.R.4490 (Wildfire Grid Resiliency Act), and $30 million annually directed to local officials under H.R.5154 (REACT Act).
  • Background and upcoming actions: The newsletter catalogs Congressional bills and hearings, media coverage, and events; it also announces an EESI briefing on AI and energy.
    • Event: “Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Energy and the Environment”
      • Date: Thursday, September 25
      • Time: 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
      • Location: Rayburn House Office Building, Gold Room (Room 2168) and online (livecast/RSVP link provided)
    • Other details: Highlight notes available for the 28th Annual Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy Forum and EXPO; a cited statistic: every $1 invested in transit generates $5 in economic returns.
• Sep 10, 2025

  ORNL wins 20 R&D 100 Awards

  Oak Ridge National Laboratory announced it set a new lab record by winning 20 R&D 100 Awards in the current global competition (ORNL led 17 winners and co-developed three more, with 29 ORNL finalist technologies).

  • Main announcement & highlights: ORNL reports 20 R&D 100 Awards (17 led, 3 co-developed) across energy, materials, manufacturing, computing and emerging technologies; notable technology metrics include rotary transformer motor tested on a 200-kW BorgWarner motor (92–95% efficiency, up to 15% efficiency improvement, up to 25% higher power density, validated over 53,000 cycles ≈ 10 years), LMHE engine with 15% weight reduction and >10% fuel-efficiency improvement, heat pump water heater with 30% improvement in first-hour hot water delivery, and BIPHASICS CO2 capture claiming up to 46% less solvent regeneration energy and 30% lower CO2 capture cost vs MEA.
  • Background, partners and technical details: The announcement lists commercial and research partners and commercialization steps (e.g., The Sexton Corporation commercializing the underwater X-ray system; collaboration with BorgWarner, GM, Cummins, Soteria Battery Innovation Group, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and academic partners). It documents technology specifics such as HyPoCap (surface area >4,000 m2/g; 610 F/g capacitance), E-GRIMS operating at ~800°C with >90% energy savings and completing graphitization in ~2 hours, Next-Gen Polyiso R-value 8.3 per inch (30% better), Future Foundries reducing production cycles by up to 68%, and simulation tools (DR-Weld, ExaDigiT, PRESTO, Simurgh) with stated performance claims and deployment partners. Funding sources and managing organization (UT-Battelle for DOE Office of Science) are also listed.
• Aug 22, 2025

  Net zero needs AI — five actions to realize its promise

  Nature (author Amy Luers) argues that widespread AI deployment is needed to realise net zero by 2050 and outlines five actions to capture AI’s mitigation potential.

  • Main announcement/action: The article calls for targeted investment and deployment of AI for climate to accelerate decarbonization, citing that AI climate-technology raised US$6 billion in 2024, and urging focus on underfunded areas such as grid integration, materials discovery and carbon removal; it lists five priority actions to realise this potential.
  • Background and details: Key factual points include global temperature in 2024 exceeded 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, data centres ≈1.5% of global electricity (IEA), US data centres currently ~4.4% of US electricity and could reach 6.7–12% by 2028, and estimated mitigation potential of 1.4 GtCO2/yr by 2035 (IEA) or 3.2–5.4 GtCO2/yr by 2035 (Stern et al.); the article also documents local resource stresses (water, grid capacity) and technology examples (dynamic line ratings, AI-led materials discovery at MIT).
• Aug 13, 2025

  50 States of Power Decarbonization Q2 2025: States Restrict Plant Retirements and Investigate Emerging Energy Sources

  The NC Clean Energy Technology Center released its Q2 2025 edition of the “50 States of Power Decarbonization” quarterly report.

  • Main announcement: The Q2 2025 report found 48 states and Puerto Rico took 393 actions related to electric power decarbonization and resource planning during the quarter, and noted 317 introduced bills not yet passed. The report also summarizes planned capacity changes from recently filed or under‑review integrated resource plans: 118,262 MW solar, 98,317 MW natural gas, 50,117 MW wind, 47,258 MW storage, and 44,286 MW planned coal retirements.
  • Background and details: The report identifies three Q2 2025 trends: (1) lawmakers imposing conditions on electric generation facility retirements; (2) states researching effects of large load customers (e.g., data centers) on the grid; (3) legislators investigating advanced nuclear and geothermal. It highlights top policy developments in Connecticut, Arkansas, Ohio, Minnesota, Missouri, Maine, and an Indiana executive order; media contact is Shannon Helm, NCCETC (shannon_helm@ncsu.edu).
• Aug 8, 2025

  The data center balance: How US states can navigate the opportunities and challenges

  The article by McKinsey authors analyzes the rapid growth and investment in data center infrastructure driven by AI and cloud computing demand in the United States.

  • $7 trillion global investment by 2030, with over 40% in the US; Northern Virginia holds 13% of global capacity, demonstrating strategic regional growth.
  • Challenges include power supply strain (460 TWh increase by 2030), water scarcity, resource bottlenecks, and community pushback; Ohio’s $10B+ AWS expansion and AEP’s $2.82B transmission build-out exemplify coordinated infrastructure and workforce initiatives.
• Jul 31, 2025

  Bipartisan Ohio senators introduce community solar legislation

  Ohio State Senators Mark Romanchuk (R-Ontario) and Kent Smith (D-Euclid) introduced SB 231 to establish a community energy distributed generation pilot program in Ohio (companion bill HB 303 introduced by Reps. Jim Hoops and Sharon Ray).

  • Program details & legislative action: SB 231 / HB 303 would create a distributed generation pilot program enabling community energy (including community solar) to secure in‑state generation subject to local planning and zoning, allowing projects to be sited years ahead of typical time frames for other generation sources; SB 231 is presented as a bipartisan proposal and a CCSA news item/press release endorses the measure.
  • Analyses & financial figures: A 2023 Ohio University analysis estimates the Ohio Community Solar Pilot Program could contribute $3.49 billion GSP, 27,254 job‑years, $2.48 billion in total earnings, and $409.5 million in local tax revenue over its lifetime; an analysis by Karl R. Rábago indicates the legislation’s costs would be offset by program benefits from “avoided costs” alone.