Drone Imagery Confirms Meta's Prometheus South Operating, Prometheus North Still Under Construction

Meta Platforms | New Albany, Ohio (PJM) | Prometheus South (Plant 3656161): 6 units, 80 MW each (480 MW campus) | Prometheus North (Plant 3676492): 5 units, 100 MW each (500 MW campus) | Drone flights: August 31, 2026 (South) and August 19, 2026 (North)

On recent thermal drone flights over Meta's two Prometheus data center campuses in New Albany, Ohio, the imagery shows the sites at very different stages. At Prometheus South, the exterior units along the data halls read warm and the on-site gas plant's exhaust stacks read hot, both signals of a campus that is operating. At Prometheus North, the exterior units show no warm signature and the on-site gas plant is still under construction, both consistent with a campus that has not yet begun operating.

Vulcan satellite monitoring had both campuses well along, with construction complete on most halls, but overhead change detection cannot tell whether a finished hall is energized. We flew both sites to close that gap. IIR Energy reports five of six halls operational at Prometheus South and all five halls operational at Prometheus North. The drone confirms the reading at South and shows that the North halls, though structurally complete on the lead units, are not yet carrying load. Meta has publicly described Prometheus as coming online in 2026 as a gigawatt-class AI supercluster at its New Albany campus, matched by an on-site power generation facility. We present these flights as independent ground truth on where each campus actually stands.

Prometheus South is operating

Prometheus South (Plant 3656161) | Meta Platforms | New Albany, Ohio (PJM) | 6 units, 80 MW each (480 MW campus) | Drone flight: August 31, 2026

At Prometheus South the drone shows a campus that is operating. Along and between the data halls, sections of the exterior units read distinctly warmer than the surrounding roofs and ground. The warmth is sectional, with some units hot and others cool, which reads as partial or ramping load rather than the full campus at maximum draw. On the same campus, the on-site gas plant is running: eight of its turbines show hot exhaust stacks on thermal. Combustion exhaust runs hundreds of degrees and blazes on thermal regardless of ambient temperature, so this is not a solar artifact.

Prometheus South, looking across the six data halls. Wide visible drone overview, 8/31/2026.

A clear operational signal at Prometheus South

The clearest evidence sits at the equipment aisles between the halls, where rows of exterior units are lined up. In both the oblique and the straight-down passes, discrete units in those rows read hot while neighboring units stay cool, the pattern expected from a campus running real but partial load. Five of the six halls are structurally complete, with the sixth still under construction. The on-site gas plant on the same campus shows turbines running on thermal, consistent with a powered, operating site.

Visible (left) and thermal (right). The exterior units along the halls read warm in sections, some hot and others cool, consistent with the halls operating at partial load. 8/31/2026.

Visible (left) and thermal (right). Straight-down view of the equipment aisle between two halls; the exterior units read warm in sections. 8/31/2026.

The on-site gas plant serving Prometheus South. Visible drone overview, 8/31/2026.

Thermal of the on-site gas plant. Eight exhaust stacks read hot, indicating running turbines. 8/31/2026.

Unit status (August 31, 2026)

Reported status and dates are from IIR Energy; observations are from the August 31 drone pass. The thermal establishes campus-level operation, with the exterior units reading warm across the operating halls; it does not resolve load to individual hall numbers. Vulcan satellite monitoring carries DC01 to DC05 as complete and DC06 as under construction.

Prometheus North is still under construction

Prometheus North (Plant 3676492) | Meta Platforms | New Albany, Ohio (PJM) | 5 units, 100 MW each (500 MW campus) | Drone flight: August 19, 2026

At Prometheus North the drone shows a campus that is still under construction and not yet carrying load. The data halls are structurally complete, but the exterior units show no warm signature, and the roofs read warm only where the midday sun falls on them, which solar loading alone will produce. The on-site gas plant that is being built to serve the campus is itself still under construction and shows no combustion signature on thermal, so it is not yet generating. The drone also shows a sixth structure under construction beyond the five reported units.

IIR Energy reports all five North halls operational, with reported startups between February and June 2026. The August 19 drone pass shows the campus still building, with the dedicated on-site power plant not yet generating and temporary generators bridging the site. Vulcan satellite monitoring still carries the two newest halls as under construction, while the drone shows all five shells complete but none energized. We report this as new evidence of where the campus stands today and attribute any operational milestone to the operator.

Prometheus North, looking across the five data halls. Wide visible drone overview, 8/19/2026.

Thermal overview of the Prometheus North halls. The roofs read warm where midday sun falls on them; the exterior units show no warm signature. 8/19/2026.

No operational signal yet at Prometheus North

There is no operational thermal signature at Prometheus North. On a hot, sunny midday the roofs and idle equipment warm up, which is what the thermal shows, but the exterior units along the halls stay cool, without the sectional warmth seen at Prometheus South. A missing signature on its own is not proof a hall is dark. Here, though, it sits alongside visible construction across the campus and an on-site power plant that is not yet running, and together those point to a campus that has not begun operating.

Visible (left) and thermal (right). The on-site gas plant under construction; no combustion signature on thermal, so it is not yet generating. 8/19/2026.

Unit status (August 19, 2026)

Reported status and dates are from IIR Energy; observations are from the August 19 drone pass, which shows all five halls structurally complete and none showing a warm signature. The drone also shows a sixth structure under construction, which Vulcan analysts had noted from imagery but which neither IIR Energy nor the Vulcan unit record carries as a tracked unit. Vulcan satellite monitoring still carried the two newest halls as under construction, and the on-site power plant was under construction and not generating.

Direct Intelligence at Your Fingertips

Vulcan pairs satellite monitoring with on-site thermal drone verification, providing the ground truth needed to look past reported milestones.

• For current clients: You direct our intelligence gathering. Vulcan runs dedicated thermal drone flights regularly, driven by subscriber demand. Submit site suggestions or commission targeted flyovers to validate your highest-conviction positions.
• Custom mission requests: Send drone flight suggestions to David Bellman at dbellman@synmax.com.

Not yet a Vulcan client? If you need to stay ahead of construction delays and confirm which facilities are actually energized before the market does, reach out to David Bellman at dbellman@synmax.com to schedule a demo of our integrated satellite and drone dashboard.