AWS Wheatfield Campus (Project Rise)

Timeline from the record

Newest first. Record entries come from the filings and reports the registry cites. Coverage entries are headlines from publisher feeds we monitor daily, linked to the outlet; last checked September 14, 2026.

1. June 17, 2026

   Permitted
   Jasper County Commissioners unanimously approved development agreements and a zoning change
2. June 3, 2026

   Proposed
   AWS presented plans at a public open house at Kankakee Valley High School

Opposition and litigation at this site

Not that we can document. Local officials or residents have expressed public support for AWS Wheatfield Campus (Project Rise) in Wheatfield, Jasper County, Indiana, and no opposition, petition, or lawsuit appears in the sources this registry tracks as of July 25, 2026. Jasper County Commissioners voted unanimously to approve; residents invited to a June 3 2026 open house; no opposition on record in available sources.

How the community has taken it

Reception is a sourced signal, not an editorial judgment: supported means local officials or residents have expressed public support and no opposition is documented.

Jasper County Commissioners voted unanimously to approve; residents invited to a June 3 2026 open house; no opposition on record in available sources.

Power and water

Grid power via NIPSCO, which is building a 400 MW gas peaker (target 2027) and a combined-cycle gas plant (target 2029) on adjacent property to serve the campus.

Natural air cooling ~98% of the year; supplemental water cooling on hot days; campus will not connect to public water systems and will fund its own water/wastewater infrastructure.

Public money on the record

Notes on the record

Codename Project Rise. Nine-building campus on 304 acres of NIPSCO-owned land ~0.5 mi from the R.M. Schahfer Generating Station; part of AWS's $15B Northern Indiana commitment. CAPACITY OMITTED: data-center IT load not disclosed; the 400 MW figure is NIPSCO's new gas peaker plant, not the facility's load. INVESTMENT OMITTED: DCD reports AWS is 'estimating an investment of around $7 billion' - a soft estimate, so no firm investmentUsd is recorded (noted here). ~250 permanent jobs are a projection (in notes, not jobs). AWS commits to restore 425 acres of Kankakee River watershed habitat and provide $25M for Wheatfield Township water access; AWS committed $1.25B to offset NIPSCO ratepayer impacts across the broader buildout. Coordinates are the Wheatfield centroid. Distinct from Project Rainier (New Carlisle) and the Hobart IN campus.

Other sites within 30 miles

Distances are between recorded coordinates, many of which are a city or county centroid, so treat them as approximate. Cumulative load on one utility and one aquifer is the question a planning commission rarely asks.

• Project Shirley · Eagle Creek Township · Sentinel Data Centers15 mi · Proposed · 500 MW · Contested
• Merrillville Technology Park · Merrillville · The Province Group22 mi · Proposed
• Karis Critical Deep River Campus · Merrillville · Karis Critical22 mi · Proposed
• Wylie Capital Broadway Data Center · Merrillville · Wylie Capital24 mi · Proposed
• AWS Hobart Campus · Hobart · Amazon Web Services25 mi · Under construction · 2.4 GW · Contested

Questions people ask about this site