Pennsylvania Repurposes Former Coal Sites for Multi-Gigawatt AI Data Center Development

Western Pennsylvania is emerging as a key region for large-scale data center development, driven by the repurposing of former coal-fired power plant sites. These locations offer existing high-voltage transmission, industrial zoning, and water infrastructure, making them attractive for energy-intensive AI and hyperscale data centers.

Aligned Data Centers has broken ground on its $10 billion, 2-gigawatt (GW) Project Phoenix campus at the former Bruce Mansfield coal-fired power station in Shippingport, Beaver County. This development will feature three data center facilities spanning nearly 2 million square feet, powered by dedicated onsite natural-gas fuel-cell generation. This behind-the-meter approach aims to avoid additional strain on the local electrical grid. Aligned acquired approximately 650.9 acres for $223 million in July 2026, and Shippingport Borough approved its conditional-use application in March 2026.

Concurrently, about 60 miles east, the former Homer City Generating Station is being redeveloped into the Homer City Energy Campus. This site is slated for up to 4.4 GW of new natural-gas generation, with Amazon Web Services (AWS) reportedly planning a campus of up to 39 data center buildings nearby. These projects highlight contrasting development models: Aligned's data-center-led approach with integrated power, versus Homer City's power-generation-first strategy. Both initiatives underscore a shift towards building power supply concurrently with data center infrastructure to meet the escalating demands of AI.