Chesapeake Utilities Corporation announced that its Ohio subsidiary, Aspire Energy Express, LLC, has entered into an agreement with American Electric Power (AEP) to construct and operate an intrastate natural gas pipeline in central Ohio to serve a new fuel-cell facility, which will provide on-site electric power to a data center.
As demand for distributed data infrastructure continues to rise, investments in data centers have accelerated. AEP is playing a leading role in supporting these developments by providing solutions to customers to meet their increasing power requirements.
Chesapeake Utilities operates multiple energy infrastructure subsidiaries throughout its footprint, enabling the transmission and distribution of natural gas to end-use residential, commercial and industrial customers.
The new Aspire Energy Express transmission infrastructure represents a capital investment of approximately $10 million and is expected to deliver reliable natural gas to power on-site electricity generation to the new data center in the first half of 2027.
"This project is a clear example of how Chesapeake Utilities Corporation continues to execute on our growth strategy by leveraging our core capabilities — new business development, transmission project construction and customer-focused energy solutions," said Jeff Sylvester, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Chesapeake Utilities Corporation. "Through our work with AEP, we're deploying capital to deliver infrastructure needed to support energy demand in high-growth regions of Ohio."
