AWS eyes data center project in Fayette County, Ohio

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is eyeing Fayette County, southern Ohio, as a site for a data center development and is considering a location about 25 miles east of Xenia, 40 miles east of Dayton.

“We recently filed documents as part of the process in exploring possible data center locations. This is part of our normal due diligence process as we are constantly evaluating new locations based on customer demand,” Amazon spokesperson Virginia Milazzo said.

The Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel (OCC) office representing Ohio consumers, has, however, filed a notice on the project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Electricity transmission infrastructure to serve the first phase of the data center would exceed $22 million in cost, the OCC filing says.

“While AES Ohio represents that the agreement is protective of other AES consumers, it notes that it intends to seek rolled-in rate treatment for the costs of the network upgrades in subsequent proceedings before the appropriate state and/or federal regulatory agencies,” the OCC filing states. “This is cause for concern for all customers who likely would be responsible for paying for those costs.”

In response, Milazzo told the Dayton Daily: “Amazon pays transmission costs at rates established by utility regulators to make sure we are paying our fair share of the costs for electricity. We work closely with utilities and grid operators to plan for future growth, and where we require specific infrastructure to meet our needs (such as new substations), we work to make sure that we’re covering those costs and that they aren’t being passed on to other ratepayers."