{"id":206427,"date":"2026-05-29T17:19:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T22:19:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=206427"},"modified":"2026-05-29T17:19:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T22:19:44","slug":"data-center-construction-operations-timeline-shared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/05\/29\/data-center-construction-operations-timeline-shared\/","title":{"rendered":"Data center construction, operations timeline shared"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"550\" height=\"536\" src=\"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Data-center-2026.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-206429\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The QTS data center in Van Wert won&#8217;t be fully operational until 2032. Groudbreaking is set for the fourth quarter of this year. <em>QTS photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong><em>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The long awaited announcement of who would own and operate a data center in Van Wert was made Friday morning. QTS Data Centers, which is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, was named as the end user of the $10 billion, 500 megawatt data center at the Mega Site (see story <a href=\"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/05\/29\/qts-data-centers-is-the-end-user-for-vw-data-center\/\">here<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, more information has been shared, including an approximate timeline for the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Van Wert data center campus will have up to seven buildings on 902 acres of land at the Mega Site, according to Katie Erwin, QTS Senior Director of Communications. She also noted groundbreaking is expected in the fourth quarter of this year, but it\u2019s going to be a while before the data center is operational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cProject timelines are subject to a number of factors, including permitting, utility coordination and overall development progress,\u201d Erwin explained. \u201cBased on our current planning we anticipate the first building on the Van Wert campus becoming operational in the first quarter of 2029. The full campus is expected to be developed in phases, with full buildout and operations projected around 2032.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Erwin also addressed two of the main concerns about the data center \u2013 power and water usage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cQTS will fund 100 percent of energy infrastructure improvements in partnership with American Electric Power at no cost to ratepayers,\u201d she stated. \u201cThe campus will use a closed-loop system that consumes no water for cooling, saving billions of gallons of water annually.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The closed loop system will require QTS to purchase appromixately 660,000 gallons of water from the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Erwin was asked what made Van Wert and the Mega Site attractive to QTS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cQTS evaluates a range of factors when selecting sites, including access to power, connectivity, a skilled workforce and existing infrastructure,\u201d she said. \u201cVan Wert offers these foundational elements, which helps support efficient, well-aligned development with the surrounding community and environment.Van Wert has also demonstrated a strong interest in attracting new investment and supporting industries that bring long-term benefits to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLocal leadership has expressed a commitment to responsible development and the region has a workforce that can benefit from new jobs and associated economic activity,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>QTS currently has two other data centers under construction in Ohio, both in New Albany. Overall, the company has over 90 data centers in 15 states that are operational or under construction. QTS also has five European data centers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor The long awaited announcement of who would own and operate a data center in Van Wert was made Friday morning. QTS Data Centers, which is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, was named as the end user of the $10 billion, 500 megawatt data center at the Mega Site (see story here). Now, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-206427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-topstory"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-05 23:56:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206427"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206432,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206427\/revisions\/206432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}