Licking County, Ohio
DataCentersExposed tracks 15 AI data centers in Licking County, Ohio — 0 operating and 7 in the pipeline, drawing 3.4 GW of reported power demand, led by Amazon.com, Inc.. Its transparent data-center risk score is 1/100.
Sources: Methodology, Coverage scorecard
Reporting by Eric Keller · Updated May 29, 2026
- Project exposure · 42
- Power demand · 67
- Water draw · n/a
- Land footprint · n/a
What's happening in Licking County
Facilities here with disclosed capacity draw 3.4 GW from the local grid. Data-center load on this scale is the single biggest driver of recent capacity-market price increases — costs that flow through to every ratepayer in the service territory, not just the operators.
Amazon.com, Inc. has the largest presence in Licking County. We resolve project codenames and shell LLCs back to the corporate parent wherever the public record allows, so the table below names who is actually behind each site.
Below: every tracked facility in the county, the active state legislation that names it or its county, and local news. Commissioner vote records arrive in a later release; the placeholders show where that accountability data will land.
2035 Buildout Outlook
Under the model's moderate-growth scenario (5%/yr annual load growth), PNNL's IM3 model sites about 5 standardized 36 MW campuses in Licking County by 2035 — roughly 180 MW of new electricity demand and ~174 M gal/yr of cooling water. For scale, we currently track 15 real data centers in Licking County (3.4 GW of reported power).
- Higher growth5180 MW · ~174 M gal/yr cooling water
The model assigns ~100% of these campuses' cooling to evaporative water cooling in Licking County (the rest to mechanical/air cooling), a split it derives from local water stress and wet-bulb temperature.
These are modeled candidate sites, not announced or permitted facilities. PNNL's IM3 model places identical 36 MW unit-campuses at feasible locations under each scenario — it shows where demand could concentrate, never a specific parcel. Figures use a market-gravity weight of 50. How the model works.
Every tracked facility
| Facility | Operator | Status | MW |
|---|---|---|---|
| Karis Critical Data Center Johnstown | — | Proposed | 36 |
| Johnstown Data Center (Beech Rd.) Johnstown | — | Proposed | — |
| Microsoft Licking County (Heath/Hebron/New Albany) New Albany | Microsoft Data Center LLC | Proposed | — |
| AWS New Albany Campus 3 (expansion) | Amazon.com, Inc. | Under construction | 1,100 |
| EdgeConneX New Albany Data Center Johnstown | EdgeConneX, Inc. | Under construction | 120 |
| CyrusOne COL-1 Johnstown | — | Under construction | — |
| Microsoft Licking County Campus 1 | Microsoft Corporation | Permitted | 900 |
| Meta | Meta Platforms, Inc. | Mapped (unverified) | 691 |
| Google NBY-3 | Alphabet Inc. | Mapped (unverified) | 543 |
| Amazon Web Services | Amazon.com, Inc. | Mapped (unverified) | — |
| Amazon Web Services CMH53 | Amazon.com, Inc. | Mapped (unverified) | — |
| Meta | Meta Platforms, Inc. | Mapped (unverified) | — |
| QTS Nal 2 Dc2 New Albany | QTS Realty Trust, LLC | Mapped (unverified) | — |
| QTS Nal1 Dc1 New Albany | QTS Realty Trust, LLC | Mapped (unverified) | — |
| Vantage Building 3 New Albany | Vantage Data Centers Holdings, LLC | Mapped (unverified) | — |
County commissioners
How the Licking County board votes on each data-center matter — the rezonings, the abatements, the water permits — is built from public-meeting minutes and roll-call records. Know of a vote we should be tracking? Tell us.