Data centers in Sullivan County, Indiana: 1 project mapped

Under the enhancement agreement the county is to receive $25 million in each phase, and the developer committed $4.5 million to the Brownbaggers School Food Program, the Merom Camp and Retreat Center and Sullivan County Park and Lake. Davis said no local incentives were given. The park's website, as reported at the time, put Phase 1 at $20 billion, two buildings, about 750 peak construction jobs and 125 permanent ones, and Phase 2 at $45 billion.

The developer named locally was Heartland, and the start-up behind it, Potentia; by August the operator presenting the project to residents was the AI cloud company Fluidstack. New Project Media reported that a $5.7 billion bond deal, issued by a joint venture owned 49.9% by Fluidstack and 50.1% by a company related to the investment firm Coatue, with Google guaranteeing Fluidstack's lease, would buy about 140 acres and build two data centers totaling 430MW with an on-site substation, the first 65MW hall due in July 2027.

The ratings firms said the project carries meaningful execution risk, Fitch citing an aggressive construction schedule and limited data center experience on the part of both the sponsor and the contractor.

The fight so far has been about secrecy, roads and jobs more than zoning. Construction began in May, and at a commissioners' meeting that month residents complained that heavy trucks were using roads not permitted for the loads. "They're tearing it up already," one said. Joe Bolk, president of the Wabash Valley Building Trades Council, objected that the first contractor was from Atlanta and brought its own workers and equipment, and Davis said the county's legal team was looking into its options.

At an open house Fluidstack held at the Merom Camp and Retreat Center on August 5, spokesperson Kate Franko said the cooling would be a closed loop that is filled once, that residents' power rates would not rise, and that local unions held nearly $600 million in contracts on the project. The co-op supplier WIN Energy has said the park will pay all costs of its own energy needs.

Merom town councilman John Gettinger told the Tribune-Star the project "seemed to come from out of nowhere" and that the early secrecy had cost trust; Bonnie Boone, who lives near the site, said she still worried about water, electric rates and wildlife. A public Facebook group, Say NO To Data Centers in Sullivan Co, IN, has posted complaints that questions at the open house went unanswered.

The power is the other half of the story. DCD notes that the land came from Hoosier Energy in 2022 and that Hallador Energy, which owns the 1GW Merom plant next door, filed last year to add 515MW of natural gas capacity there. Because Hoosier and WIN Energy are co-ops, a Hoosier representative told New Project Media, their service agreement with the park does not have to be filed with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.

What comes next is the first server building, which Fluidstack hopes to have running around the middle of 2027, and the first enhancement payment, which Franko said was waiting on the county to be ready to receive it. The company has not named its customers.