A proposed 100 MW AI data center in Monroeville, Ohio is testing whether public disclosure and developer-funded infrastructure can smooth the path for large-load projects after a previous cryptocurrency mining venture left the village with unpaid electric bills and a costly forward power contract.
The project, called Project Eagle Ridge, comes from Decimal Digital, which was originally a cryptocurrency mining customer at the site rather than its developer. According to CEO Roshan Shah, Decimal owned mining hardware while a company called Gray Matter Advisors owned and operated the hosting facility and provided power. Shah said Gray Matter relocated Decimal’s equipment to Monroeville without notifying the company after losing access to another Ohio site. As Decimal worked to recover its assets through litigation, it ended up operating the facility under a court-appointed receiver and recognized the site’s long-term infrastructure potential.
Stronger Financial Protections
The earlier mining operation’s collapse exposed Monroeville to significant financial risk, and council records show the village rewrote its electric service agreements afterward to include stronger collateral requirements and other protections for future large-load customers.
Decimal is also funding infrastructure that many developers expect utilities or ratepayers to cover. The proposal includes a developer-funded 69 kV transmission line connecting the project to Herbert Substation, with coordination involving American Municipal Power Transmission, FirstEnergy, and PJM. Shah said Decimal chose to absorb those transmission costs itself rather than spread them across the village’s roughly 1,300 residents.
Shah said Decimal has spent about two years on the project’s electrical planning, completing desktop transmission analyses and load studies through utility review, with the current package now submitted to PJM.
Disclosure Instead of NDAs
Perhaps the project’s biggest departure from standard practice is its approach to public engagement. Decimal has released detailed presentations covering transmission planning, water studies, economic impact, and acoustic analysis, and has held community meetings during the entitlement process rather than waiting until major decisions were finalized.
“We don’t believe in NDAs,” Shah said. “We’ve got nothing to hide.” The company plans to publish additional technical documents, including site plans, acoustic studies, and water reports, as they become available.
Neil Osnato, founder of Persistence Analytics Group, said this level of disclosure remains uncommon in an industry where developers have historically kept projects quiet until major decisions were already locked in. As AI data center projects grow larger, he said, communities increasingly want to understand transmission, water, and cost allocation impacts before construction begins, or the project risks becoming politically unworkable even if it is technically sound.
For hosting operators and site selection professionals watching the AI data center boom, Monroeville’s experience offers an early test case for whether early disclosure and developer-funded infrastructure can become standard practice rather than the exception.