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HARRISON COUNTY, Ohio — By now, you’ve likely heard of artificial intelligence data centers and cryptomining, otherwise branded as bitcoin mining.
And while these two technological innovations swiftly gain traction nationwide, the Ohio Valley is also becoming a player in these 21st century creations.
We’re going to have to be, I think, willing to educate ourselves on these, you know, these cryptomines, these bitcoin projects, these AI data centers, because, you know, these are all spinoffs from the Intel project,” State Rep. Don Jones said.
Jones believes Eastern Ohio has a role to play with these projects going forward. But it’s important to know the difference between the two.
‘Amp Z’ in Cadiz is an AI data center that has been fully operational for about a year and Mayor R. Kevin Jones said he’s learned a lot from Amp Z officials since he first heard about it.
“They want to make Cadiz their flagship,” Mayor Jones said. “It’s very important that we have this company here. They are a data center renewable energy company, where they take the renewable energy, they’re going to build greenhouses, which will create a lot of jobs for our area.”
Amp Z was so interested in the piece of land at the old mine site it provided the village with a $22,000 grant to purchase a new K-9 for the police department.
Mayor Jones said Amp Z also does solar work, and as it expands into the next phase, more jobs will be coming to the area.
“I think they’re going to start out with 10 acres and greenhouses, some something like that, but they’ll eventually have 30 acres,” Mayor Jones said. “It’ll provide the 10 acres will provide 72 jobs right off the bat, and then when they get the other one’s going, it’ll provide probably three to 400 jobs for this area.”
Just a few miles away in Green Township within the village of Hopedale, Sabre 56, there’s a completely separate operation with an unrelated goal. It’s a cryptocurrency miner.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, cryptocurrency mining is defined as quote:
“Adding blocks of transactions to a blockchain by solving complex cryptographic puzzles that require significant computational power. The blockchain represents a digital ledger that allows participants to track transactions across the cryptocurrency network.”
NEWS9 reached out to a site manager at Sabre 56 for further explanation and they told NEWS9 someone from the corporate offices would be reaching out, but we have yet to hear back.
Back in Cadiz, both Rep. Jones and Mayor jones seem to have a clearer picture of what Amp Z brings to the table.
“The AI data center is something that, you know, they’ve been here for not a real long time, but they took an old building there at the old Cadiz mine portal and totally remodeled,” Rep. Jones said. “I mean, I went there for a visit back in the summer and was amazed at the inside of the building. I mean, last time I was in there, it was an old, typical mine building. It was dirty, it was, it was decrepit. I mean, and, you know, they, they totally remodeled the inside of it.”
Data centers are for government files, medical files, educational files” Mayor Jones said. “It’s really a safer way to store information.
However, both the data center and cryptomine require power, and that is one of the few things that Rep. Jones was told when these companies first began scouring the Ohio Valley for land.
“I had been approached earlier about looking for facilities, if I knew of anything, probably a couple years ago,” Rep. Jones said. “And, you know, I and the only thing that I was told was, is there was a need for a lot of power.
“That was the only time that I had any interaction with any of those folks. And then they had moved into the Hopedale mine facility, which I was not aware of until last summer.”
As for a cryptomine, the USEIA says up to 2.3% of all the electricity consumed in the U.S. may be going to cryptomines – and the industry is still growing.
Data centers, according to the International Energy Agency, can consume up to about 1% of total global electric capacity at the present time.
The agencies say it’s tough to gauge the use of any particular center given the variable size and electrical need. However, the uncertainty behind how these new technologies will get the power they need in the future is the subject of a pending case between the Public Utility Commission of Ohio and AEP.
As part of it, AEP Vice President of Regulatory and Finance Matthew McKenzie testified in May 2024. He was questioned about whether there are any protections against data centers interfering with AEP Ohio’s electric grid.
He responded saying, in part:
“For now, the proposed data center tariffs address this issue by requiring that the customer will follow all applicable technical operating requirements, such as not intentionally or unintentionally cycling load in a way that creates an imbalanced or unacceptable system frequency, and other requirements that will be maintained and periodically updated for the safety of the larger system.”
NEWS9 reached out to PUCO for its thoughts on the ongoing case, but Public Affairs Director Matthew Schilling said the commission does not comment on pending cases.
Meanwhile, Rep. Jones believes this is just the beginning of these 21st century companies finding land in Eastern Ohio.
“These are things that we are not used to in rural Ohio,” Rep. Jones said. “These are things that we think only happen or take place or settle in areas of population, you know. And so, we’re going to have to educate ourselves about what they are, what do they bring to the area? What are the pros, what are the cons?”
And one con, according to a Green Township resident, is the excessive noise at Sabre 56. Hear more about in part two Tuesday.
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