Developer Homer City Redevelopment (HCR) and Kiewit, a construction and engineering firm, have partnered to convert a former coal power station in Pennsylvania into a natural gas-powered AI data center.
The partners aim to convert the Homer City Generating Station, a decommissioned 2GW coal-burning power station near Homer City, Indiana County, Pennsylvania into a 4.5GW natural gas powered data center campus spanning more than 3,200 acres.
The project has been dubbed The Homer City Energy Campus.
Construction on the project is expected to begin this year, with commercial operations slated for 2027.
The initial capital investment in the project is expected to exceed $10 billion for the power infrastructure and site readiness. The construction of the data center is expected to cost billions of dollars more, which will make the project the largest investment in Pennsylvania’s history.
The exact timeline of the data center buildout and its capacity was not disclosed. DCD has reached out to the project partners for clarification.
To power the Homer City Energy Campus, gas turbine manufacturer GE Vernova has been contracted to deliver seven high efficiency 7HA.02 hydrogen-enabled, gas-fired turbines. Delivery of the turbines is expected to begin in 2026.
“We are honored to provide our US manufactured, highly efficient and advanced HA gas turbine technology and combined cycle equipment for the Homer City Energy Campus,” said Scott Strazik, CEO of GE Vernova.
The campus will be constructed by Kiewit. According to the company, most of the critical infrastructure necessary for the project is already in place, including a firm grid connection to the PJM and NYISO grids. In addition, the site already has substations present and water access.
"Kiewit is excited to help advance what is poised to become the nation’s largest natural gas-powered plant. We’ve been pleased by how quickly all parties have worked to make this project shovel-ready, all while holding firm to the highest standards of safety and quality,” said Dave Flickinger, executive vice president, Kiewit.
Knighthead Capital Management, a US investment firm is leading project financing on the project.
The natural gas plant is the latest in a spate of planned gas power plants announced over recent months to power the US’ AI data center market.
Last month, Crusoe announced it has secured 4.5GW of natural gas power from seven GE Vernova turbines purchased by Engine No. 1 and Chevron earlier this year. The turbines will provide power to Crusoe's data center portfolio behind-the-meter to circumvent the grid.
Before this, in December, Exxon revealed it was planning to develop a 1.5GW natural gas-fired power plant dedicated to the data center sector.
However, over recent weeks there have been warnings that natural gas turbine manufacturers are beginning to struggle to keep up with demand from the data center sector.
As a result, several power producers have begun to step back from gas as a precaution. Most notably, last month Engie canceled two planned gas power plants in Texas. The power producer cited a long timeline and heightened costs as the primary factors behind the decision.
Consequently, gas manufacturers are advising developers that they may require more than seven to eight years to secure new turbines, which fall well outside data center development timelines.
