Why Franklin County is Very High risk
Score calculated from four factors: power infrastructure, water capacity, land availability, and current exposure (known projects in the county). Franklin County scores 87/100.
Amazon's Hilliard campus is one of three planned in the Hilliard area alone. AEP Ohio territory; the Bloom Energy fuel-cell array would generate 73 MW on-site, classified as "behind-the-meter" generation under HB 15 — bypassing both AEP transmission constraints and local zoning.
Amazon's data center water plan has not been fully disclosed. The fuel-cell array itself does not consume water at material scale; the data center it powers does.
Amazon already operates the Cosgray Road campus and is constructing a third Hilliard campus at Scioto Darby Road and I-270. Land assembly is well advanced.
Amazon Cosgray Road operational; second campus operational; third campus under construction; 73-MW fuel-cell array approved by OPSB and Ohio EPA over Hilliard's objection.
The facts, as filed.
Cosgray Road / Bloom Energy Fuel Cells, explained.
Hilliard is a Columbus suburb of about 38,000 people with two-story homes, sidewalks, and the kind of subdivision-with-neighborhood-park layout that Ohio Capital Journal photographer Nick Evans called "a classic suburb." Annie Cannelongo and Annette Singh are neighbors who have lived in the same Hilliard subdivision for years. They both have young kids. They both love the area.
What they don't love is the 73-megawatt fuel-cell array that Amazon and AEP Ohio plan to install at the Cosgray Road data-center campus next door. The array would consist of 228 Bloom Energy fuel cells spanning roughly six acres — powered by an eight-inch natural-gas main forced through cells in a non-combustion process. At 73 MW, the installation would be the largest of its kind in North America and the second-largest in the world.
The Ohio EPA's air permit allows the array to emit up to 1.45 million pounds of carbon dioxide per day — comparable, the City of Hilliard noted in its appeal, to the daily emissions of 66,000 cars. Amazon's permit application sits adjacent to a Hilliard elementary school and a neighborhood park where Annette Singh's kids ride bikes. Cannelongo, in formal comments to the Ohio Power Siting Board, asked: "There is no real research about the safety of this kind of power plant, and it's sitting adjacent to a neighborhood and elementary school in Hilliard. How does that impact a park that it abuts? It's a playground. My kids ride their bike there every other day."
The city of Hilliard initially tried to block the proposal through local rezoning. State authorities — specifically the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB), which claims total authority over power-siting decisions — overrode the city. Hilliard then filed an administrative-court appeal of the Ohio EPA's air permit, arguing the agency failed to give the city proper notice before issuing the permit. The case is pending. Hilliard City Council passed a resolution opposing the project; AEP Ohio's attorney told the city: "No further review is necessary," citing OPSB approval.
Bloom Energy submitted a report stating the project's emissions "do not represent a cause for concern." The company noted fuel cells produce fewer emissions than traditional power sources and stated: "The predicted CO2 concentrations from the project are a fraction of typical ambient air concentrations and are not predicted to have a measurable impact on local air quality." Cannelongo's response: "We don't trust that they're unbiased. We want an independent study."
The legal mechanism enabling the project is Ohio HB 15, the major utilities-overhaul bill passed in 2025 that allows data centers to install "behind-the-meter" on-site power generation while largely bypassing local zoning review. The bill was framed as a way to reduce data-center load on the public grid. Innovation Ohio has argued it should be tightened to require fully on-site power generation; HB 706 (now in committee) would extend AEP Ohio's 85% data-center tariff statewide as a complementary tool.
How we got here.
For Franklin County residents.
HB 15 and local zoning
The Hilliard fuel-cell case is the most important post-HB 15 stress test of local zoning authority versus state power-siting authority. If Hilliard loses its administrative-court appeal, the precedent will allow data-center developers across Ohio to install massive on-site generation regardless of local zoning — effectively neutralizing one of the few tools small Ohio cities have for limiting data-center impacts.
The CO2 number
The 1.45 million pounds of CO2 per day figure is from Hilliard's own legal filing, citing the Ohio EPA air permit. The 66,000-car-equivalent comparison is also Hilliard's. Bloom Energy's response — that fuel cells produce fewer emissions than traditional sources — is technically accurate per unit of electricity generated, but the absolute emissions volume sits adjacent to a residential subdivision and elementary school. The disagreement between these two framings is the case in microcosm.
The 45-day petition window
Singh has highlighted that under current OPSB procedure, residents have only 45 days to formally petition or object to a power-siting decision after notice. As Singh told Ohio Capital Journal: "There's no way for anyone to petition, to question it. The cities lose power, and to me, it's pulling power in the wrong direction." Whether the legislature shortens or lengthens this window is the next policy fight to watch.
What residents elsewhere should learn
The Hilliard pattern — large-scale on-site power siting via OPSB authority, bypassing local zoning under HB 15 — is now the template that any community with an Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Google, or other hyperscale presence should expect. Communities that want to influence outcomes need to engage at the OPSB level (state) and the legislative level (HB 706 and successor bills), not local zoning alone.
Reporting we relied on.
- NBC4 (WCMH Columbus) — Hilliard City Council opposition and resident testimony
- Ohio Capital Journal (Nick Evans) — Cannelongo and Singh profile, broader policy context
- Signal Ohio — lawsuit detail, 1.45M lbs CO2 figure, Cannelongo OPSB comments
- 10TV (WBNS Columbus) — Hilliard Planning Commission tabling and Carrier quote
- City of Hilliard administrative court filing — air-permit appeal
- Bloom Energy emissions report — primary developer response
- Ohio Power Siting Board case docket
- Ohio HB 15 statutory text
Independent reporting on every Ohio proposal — sourced from local filings, council minutes, and corporate disclosures. One email when something moves in your county. No ads.