The day before a public hearing scheduled by the Ohio Power Siting Board on a proposed natural gas-fired power plant to serve a data center in western Licking County, the hearing has been moved to a different location in New Albany.
The hearing for the proposed PowerConneX New Albany 3 Energy Centerwill take place at 6 p.m. Oct. 22 at the New Albany-Plain Local School District's Early Learning Center, located at 5101 Swickard Woods Blvd. off Fodor Road in New Albany, according to a media release from the Ohio Power Siting Board. The meeting will be held in the school's cafeteria/multipurpose room.
The meeting was originally scheduled for the New Albany High School cafeteria, where a previous public hearing was held., but the OPSB announced the change
mid-afternoon on Oct. 21.
The Oct. 22 hearing will allow individuals to provide testimony regarding the proposed energy center, which will be located on around 30 acres of land about 1½ miles north of State Route 161 on the east side of Clover Valley Road in a portion of Jersey Township annexed into the city of New Albany, according to an interactive map on the OPSB website. The plant will also have a maximum generating capacity of 450 megawatts and provide "behind-the-meter" power to a data center that is located on the same site, according to the OPSB.
Those who attend the hearing will be required to register when they arrive and will testify in the order that they register. Speakers will be limited to three minutes, and if a speaker wishes to provide an exhibit along with their testimony, a copy of the document should be provided to the administrative law judge during the meeting, the OPSB said in their media release.
There will also be an evidentiary hearing scheduled for 10 a.m. Nov. 4 at the offices of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, located at 180 E. Broad St. in Columbus. Because of the change in venue for the Oct. 21 public hearing, those who are unable to attend that hearing are being allowed by the Ohio Power Siting Board to testify at the evidentiary hearing.
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio staff, which must investigate applications to the OPSB, has recommended approval of the projectafter discussions with other agencies such as the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and studying factors including noise, air pollution, water, road, historical and archaeological, aviation and other potential impacts.
An interactive map of the power plant and several other plants is available on the OPSB website. Many of them are classified as “behind-the-meter” generating stations because they serve a single company’s electricity needs and do not provide electricity to the national grid. Licking County is now home to 50 data centers and six proposed power plants for them. One power plant is already in operation.
Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at smeighan@dispatch.com, at ShahidMeighan on X, and at shahidthereporter.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Public hearing on natural gas power plant moves to different New Albany school
