MORGAN COUNTY — AES Indiana made another unadvertised visit to county officials — the second time in as many weeks — when two representatives from the power company presented at the end of the Morgan County Council meeting Monday night.
They gave the council a brief history of the work in designing the new high voltage line that will run from the generating plant on Blue Bluff Road to the new Google data center near Monrovia. The work is expected to begin in late 2028 and be finished in 2029. The 345kV line will run around 10 miles with a 200-foot-wide easement and will affect 86 homeowners and involve about 240 acres of land. The line will start at a yet-unconstructed substation at Blue Bluff and will finish at a substation next to the Google data center just outside Monrovia.
When asked how much energy Google will need and if AES’ Eagle Valley Generating Station on Blue Bluff Road is currently able to provide the necessary power, the answer was no.
According to AES Government Affairs Director Courtney Arango, the Eagle Valley Generating Station currently has a capacity of around 700 megawatts per day, and that will not be enough to supply Google.
“We will have to make additional generation upgrades to serve Google over time — specifically Google,” said Arango at Monday night’s meeting. “We have not identified where we will build new generation yet because we are still in negotiations with Google around its final, what we call, electric service agreement.”
According to its current filings with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, which oversees statewide utility agencies,
“We have made an initial filing for 396 megawatts specifically to serve Google, but we have not identified the particulars of the types of generation resources that we will acquire or build to actually meet that ramp,” Arango concluded.
Council members said they were happy to hear the company plans to work with homeowners who will be affected by the work.
In other business
- The council approved transferring around $21,000 for the county EMS to pay the down payment for the new ambulance.
The new ambulance should be delivered by the first week of January. It will replace one of the ambulances in Martinsville. That ambulance will be sent to the Monrovia station and that ambulance will be put on reserve. Currently, the county’s EMS has seven ambulances on duty and three ambulances in reserve.
- The council approved updates to the county employee personnel policy handbook. The changes include: no pets, other than service animals allowed in county buildings; no scented candles, or air fresheners allowed in county offices, and no heaters will be allowed due to fire hazards.
- The council approved the 2027 budgets for the Harrison and Monroe township fire districts and the county budget.
- The council gave approval to hire a part-time person for the highway department. The person will work while a regular employee is off on medical leave. When the person returns, the person will become a part time employee.
- A couple members of the council asked about the electric-vehicle charging stations at the administration and judicial campus, wondering if they can be shut down in off hours, since it costs the county money.
“Is there any way they can not be accessible during non-business hours?” wondered councilwoman Kim Merideth.
“If they’re using them in the evenings, they’re not here doing business,” she added, wondering if “maybe after 5 o’clock, it’s not accessible.”
The county administrator said he would look into that possibility.
The next council meeting is Wednesday Nov. 4 at 6:30 p.m. at the county administration building, 180 S. Main St. in Martinsville.
