Central Ohio’s data-center boom is getting a massive new power buffer. Eolian has started construction on a 200-megawatt battery storage project near New Albany, a facility designed to help keep electricity flowing as server farms and industrial users pile more demand onto the local grid.
The Flint Grid project is being built in Jersey Township, just outside the New Albany International Business Park. Columbus Business First first reported the construction start, while the Flint Grid project site says the system is expected to begin operating in late spring 2027 and will store more than 1 gigawatt-hour of electricity.
Why A Battery Is Showing Up Beside Server Farms
Flint Grid will charge when electricity is more available or demand is lower, then send power back into the system when demand spikes. The project is tied into the nearby Jug Street substation through a new connection that includes less than a tenth of a mile of 138-kilovolt transmission line, according to an AEP Ohio Transmission filing.
Eolian says the battery can respond to changing grid conditions in milliseconds, giving operators a fast way to manage peaks without waiting years for a new power plant or major transmission corridor. The company’s current project materials describe Flint Grid as the largest battery storage resource being built in Ohio and the PJM electricity market, though that distinction comes from the developer itself.
New Albany’s Electricity Demand Is Driving The Buildout
The battery is landing in one of the country’s busiest data-center corridors. New Albany’s official commercial project dashboard lists facilities connected to AWS, Meta, Google, QTS, Vantage, CyrusOne and EdgeConneX, among others.
The city has also warned that the existing electrical network in the area has reached capacity. A separate AEP transmission project includes a new substation and more than a mile of 138-kilovolt line, an infrastructure push that shows just how quickly the region’s power needs are growing.
Battery Storage Joins A Rush For Dedicated Power
Flint Grid is not the only project trying to solve the New Albany area’s electricity crunch. The American Public Power Association reported this month that state regulators approved a 250-megawatt natural-gas plant with 116 megawatts of battery storage to serve an adjacent Meta data center, while an earlier local power story detailed another behind-the-meter generation proposal tied to an EdgeConneX campus.
That mix of batteries, transmission upgrades and dedicated gas generation reflects the same basic problem: Central Ohio is adding power-hungry buildings faster than traditional grid infrastructure can be expanded. Batteries are attractive because they can be deployed at a substation and respond almost instantly, even if they cannot replace around-the-clock generation on their own.
A Long-Planned Project Finally Moves Into Construction
Flint Grid was approved by the Ohio Power Siting Board in 2022 and was described by project consultant EDR as the first standalone battery storage facility approved through the state’s siting process. Eolian now says development dates back to 2018, meaning the project was in the pipeline well before artificial-intelligence demand turned data-center electricity needs into a national obsession.
When it comes online in 2027, the facility will add a large, fast-responding resource beside the New Albany data-center cluster without producing electricity by burning fuel at the site. For a region racing to build the next generation of digital infrastructure, Flint Grid is essentially a giant rechargeable emergency cushion for the local power system.
