OH2 Data Center, Millersport, Ohio

Site work is underway on Vantage Data Centers' $2.1 billion OH2 data center campus, which is under construction on 500 acres of former farmland in the village of Millersport, Fairfield County, Ohio, about a mile from the Millersport school. The campus would hold up to four data centers totaling 2.5 million square feet and 696 megawatts of capacity. The state must still decide whether to permit the 1,300 megawatt gas plant that would power it, with a ruling due from the Ohio Power Siting Board by November 26, 2026.

The land came into the village in May 2025, when Fairfield County commissioners voted to annex 500 acres from neighboring Walnut Township for the project. Gov. Mike DeWine confirmed Vantage as the company, calling it a $2.1 billion investment with 37 full-time positions, and said Vantage received a 50 percent tax exemption for 10 years on certain purchases. Vantage says construction began in the summer of 2026 and will continue into early 2030.

The power plant, the Fairfield Energy Center, would be built by Advanced Power, a Boston-based developer, on land leased from Vantage, with up to 1,300 megawatts of gas generation and 1,000 megawatts of battery storage on about 100 acres. Signal Ohio reported the plant would run 40 gas turbines and 132 diesel generators and would not feed the public grid, sending all its power to Vantage. Oil and Gas Watch estimates the plant would discharge 1,600 tons of air pollutants and 6.6 million tons of carbon dioxide.

At the board's local hearing on August 17, 2026, in the cafeteria of Millersport Junior/Senior High School, residents raised concerns about emissions near schools, playgrounds and Buckeye Lake. "There is no local necessity to have a private, 1,350-megawatt fossil fuel generating station. It's tech infrastructure dumping noise, heat and air pollution onto our families," said resident Lorrie Hoover. Wayne Harris of Pleasantville objected to the tax breaks: "We don't get tax abatements. Our taxes go up."

Most of the support at the hearing came from union trades who expect to build and maintain the projects. "As data centers continue to expand because of the growing demand for artificial intelligence and other high-tech industries, it is important that new development also brings infrastructure to support its own energy needs," said Dorsey Hager of the Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council. The plant's developers told the board they expect about 6,600 construction jobs over three years and 20 long-term jobs running it.

The siting board held its evidentiary hearing in the case, number 26-0160-EL-BGN, on September 17, 2026, in Columbus; it must rule within 195 days of receiving the application, setting a deadline of November 26. No decision has been published yet. Two days after the Millersport hearing, the board also heard from the public on the PowerConneX Ashville Energy Center, an 800 megawatt plant in Pickaway County that would power a co-located data center.