Pa. To See Massive Data Center, Grid Investment

More than $90 billion in private investment in energy projects, data centers, and power infrastructure was the highlight of the recent Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit held in Pittsburgh.

The event, organized by Sen. Dave McCormick, focused attention on U.S. goal of accelerating the development of artificial intelligence to make the country the world leader in technology and ensure national security.

AI data centers have been rapidly expanding as the technology continues to make quantum leaps, however the facilities require huge amounts of 24/7 power. This comes at the same time electric demand has also been increasing in other areas and grid operators have been struggling to bring new generation online quickly, stressing grid reliability. Upon taking office, President Donald Trump declared a “national energy emergency” and promoted legislation and policies promoting fossil fuel development and slashing tax credits for clean energy projects. 

Pennsylvania has seen major recent growth in data center and energy projects as companies are looking for locations with abundant energy supplies. Pennsylvania has a wealth of natural gas from the Marcellus shale formation that can be tapped for power generation. Gov. Josh Shapiro, who was one of the panelists at the summit, has also been promoting Pennsylvania as a potential data center hub.

Among the list of investments on McCormick’s website are:

• First Energy will invest $15 billion to expand power distribution, strengthen grid infrastructure, and operate the enhanced grid, supporting 56 of the 67 Pennsylvania counties.

• Frontier Group plans to invest $3.2 billion to transform the former Bruce Mansfield coal power plant into a natural gas power station in Shippingport, Beaver County.

• Homer City Redevelopment announced an agreement in principle with EQT Corporation to purchase $15 billion of Pennsylvania natural gas to support over 4 gigawatts of power generation at the Homer City Redevelopment site in Indiana County.

• GE Vernova announced up to $100 million of investment, including creating 250 new jobs by expanding a power grid equipment manufacturing plant in Charleroi, Washington County.

• Blackstone announced a $25 billion investment in data center and energy infrastructure development in Northeast Pennsylvania .

• PA Data Center Partners and Powerhouse Data Centers revealed plans to develop a $15 billion, 1.3 gigawatt, three-campus data center hub near Carlisle.

• PPL Corporation will invest $6.8 billion through 2028 to expand grid capacity and modernize transmission across multiple Pennsylvania counties to support the growing power demand of data centers.

• Westinghouse Electric Company plans to have 10 new, large nuclear power plant reactors under construction by 2030, generating what is currently estimated to be $6 billion in economic impact and 15,000 new jobs in southwest Pennsylvania.

The build-out of the projects is expected to start soon in order to meet ambitious power generation needs. However, construction of gas-fired power plants is a lengthy and expensive project, and the surge in planned projects is driving up costs and making timelines longer, according to a Reuters report. It remains to be seen how many of the projects actually reach completion in the near term.