By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
With no public hearings held, the Ohio Power Siting Board today approved the construction of a 350 megawatt natural gas fired electric generation facility next to the Meta data center in Wood County.
The plant, called the Apollo Power Generation Facility, will operate “behind-the-meter” to serve just the electric demands of the adjacent data center and will not be physically connected to the electric power grid. The facility will include approximately 120 MW of additional battery energy storage system capacity.
Matt Butler, the public information officer for the Ohio Power Siting Board, said this afternoon that the permit process went through the PUCO’s “expedited review process” intended for power plants dedicated to a single customer and sited on industrial property.
Will-Power OH LLC will construct and operate the power plant on 147 acres in the northeast corner of the intersection of Ohio 582 and Mercer Road in Middleton Township. The white barn, with the smiley face painted on the side facing I-75, will remain, according to the report submitted.
According to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, the plant must adhere to 34 conditions designed to minimize potential impacts during the construction and operation of the facility. Those conditions can be found at the end of this document: https://dis.puc.state.oh.us/ViewImage.aspx?CMID=A1001001A26A27B43504C03322
The project was filed with the Ohio Power Siting Board on Nov. 5, 2025, under the accelerated “letter of notification” review process. It was scheduled to be automatically approved on Feb. 3 if no board member requested further review or raised concerns. Butler said no concerns were expressed by the board.
On Jan. 30, Will-Power notified the Ohio Power Siting Board that construction activities on the Apollo Generation Facility would start on or about Feb. 9.
A portion of the generating capacity is expected to be operational by mid-2027, then working at full capacity by late 2027.
The proposed facility will have natural gas-fired electric generation equipment capable of 350 MW of net output. The proposed facility is designed as a series of combustion turbine generator sets, reciprocating engines coupled to electric generators, and battery energy containers.
Natural gas supply for the facility would come from two 16-inch diameter gas pipelines.
According to Butler, the project qualified for the accelerated process because it will serve a specific customer and provides for the construction of an electric generation facility designed for, or capable of, operation at a capacity of 50 megawatts or more, that uses natural gas and is primarily within the current boundary of an existing industrial facility.
The property is located within a Targeted Economic Development Area per the Wood County Plan Commission Land Use Plan and is located within Middleton Township’s Ohio 25 and Route 582 Overlay Zone.
The report discusses potential impacts and mitigating conditions:
- Water wells – within one mile of the project area, there are 54 drilled water wells. “ODNR’s review of public and private water supply resources concludes that the construction of this project is not expected to have significant impacts on public or private well yields and the construction of the facility is not expected to pose a significant groundwater contamination risk.”
- Air quality. The proposed project would be classified as a major emission source under the Ohio EPA Title V Operating Permit program. Issuance of the final permit is pending; however, the Ohio EPA confirmed the application’s completeness on Dec. 8, 2025. The approved permit would serve as the air construction permit and the initial operating permit. Within 12 months of commencement of commercial operation, the applicant would submit to the Ohio EPA an application for a Title V operating permit, which would include emission limits and standards as well as monitoring, record keeping, reporting, and testing requirements. Title V permit holders must certify annually that they have complied with the terms of the permit.
- Will-Power requested a protective order to keep confidential and not part of the public record, certain portions of its application relating to estimated capital costs information, portions of the geotechnical report that reference confidential information of applicant’s customer, and portions of the cultural resources report that reference sensitive cultural resources.
- A cultural resources consultant performed an investigation of the area. The consultant identified three previously identified archaeological sites and two Ohio Genealogical Society cemeteries within the project area. The three archaeological sites and two cemeteries were recommended as ineligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The consultant identified one newly discovered archaeological site within the project area, which was recommended as not eligible for listing in the NRHP. Four previously identified historic resources were identified within the area of potential effect which includes two Ohio Genealogical Society cemeteries. A total of 104 newly identified historic resources were identified within the area of potential effect. The consultant recommended that two of the historic resources and one cemetery are potentially eligible for listing in the NRHP.
Though the Ohio Power Siting Board held no public hearings, there was a public comment period. Fourteen people submitted their opposition to the fast-tracked power plant approval.
The comments included the following:
- “Please stop building facilities that are just going to keep destroying the local environment so that Meta can abandon the facility and payment of all of this when the AI bubble bursts. Cause Wood County and Ohio are going to be the ones holding the bag when they inevitably bail.”
- “I have growing concerns of the proposed natural gas plant near the AI Data center being built off Haskins Road. I don’t believe it is in public interest. None of the citizens wanted the data center nor a power plant right next to it. This is very disheartening for our community.”
- “I urge the Ohio Power Siting Board to give this proposal further scrutiny before automatic approval on Feb 3rd. I believe the environmental and social impact of the proposed Anduril plant will be vastly negative, and you must investigate this for yourself before just letting it happen. For the majority of citizens in and around the area, there is no time or avenue to even learn about these things before they happen, let alone attend meetings about it, and then this lack of knowledge is taken as acceptance; I ask you to please put time and effort, the amount called for by the ramifications, gauging the ramifications.”
- “I’m reaching out concerning the plans for Meta to build a natural gas center next to the data center outside of Bowling Green. I strongly opposed this project and all data center projects. I know for a fact that I’m far from alone in opposition to projects like this. … We are tired of being ignored and sold out for a quick buck. All allowing these projects will do is make the rich richer, and create a cluster of more of these being built, which will destroy our ecosystems, increase utility bills, decrease property values, and result in people just moving away.”
- “I am writing in regard to power plant plans for the site on State Rt. 582 near the Meta Data Center site. I am a Wood County resident and very much opposed to this project. Reasons against the building of a new power plant: noise pollution — causing both environmental and physiological stress on nearby humans. air pollution which threatens physical health of residents. Carbon dioxide emissions from power plants also contribute to climate change.”
- “It is bad enough that data centers are taking over Ohio’s agricultural lands with little to no regulation due to local green lighting and a state wide general water discharge permit (not to mention the air pollutant increase posed by these facilities). But to allow a facility such as this power plant right next door is outrageous. This changes the entire landscape and community, adds the potential for an exponential increase in air and water pollution, and does not serve local citizen’s needs.”
- “We give up! You have defeated our attempts to contact you about fast tracking the Apollo Power Generation Facility in Middleton Township north of Bowling Green in Wood County. … Our environment is threatened by the water use, electricity demands and potential pollution caused by the META facility, and fast tracking a natural gas plant only adds to our concerns. Ohio is being overrun by the data centers and, as the body who is supposed to protect our utilities, you should take a slowdown approach to acquiescing to the demands these plants will put on our resources, not fast-tracking.”
More information regarding the Apollo facility and maps of the project area are available online at OPSB.ohio.gov by searching case 25-0973-EL-BGN. The OPSB hosts an online mapping tool that illustrates the location of the facility and other approved and pending natural gas fired generation projects in Ohio.
