The Business of Powering Data Centers and Beyond

Let me be direct about something. The numbers surrounding Pennsylvania’s data center and energy moment are breathtaking — $110 billion in announced investment, over two dozen proposed facilities statewide, and projects like the $10 billion Homer City Energy Campus transforming a shuttered coal plant into the largest natural gas-powered data center campus in the country. Amazon is committing $20 billion across two sites. CoreWeave is investing $6 billion in Lancaster County. Aligned is eyeing a $10 billion campus in Beaver County at the old Shippingport Industrial Park. Governor Shapiro just rolled out his GRID standards — principles requiring developers to bring their own power, hire local, and engage communities before they break ground.

This is not aspirational. This is happening.

And yet. A recent poll shows 42% of Pennsylvanians do not want a data center anywhere near their community. PJM Interconnection — the grid operator serving 67 million customers across 13 states — projects the region will fall short of required power reserves by June 2027. Average electricity prices for Pennsylvania residents have jumped nearly 50% since 2018. Senator Bernie Sanders has called for a national moratorium. Local councils from Springdale to Chester County are caught between economic promise and constituent fury over water consumption, noise, and the fear that cheap, clean renewables are being left on the table while natural gas gets the spotlight.

The PA Data Center & Energy Innovation Summit returns March 27 at The Landing Hotel on Pittsburgh’s North Shore — our second year, double in size, sold out in six days last time. But this is not a victory lap. This is the collision that has to happen if Pennsylvania is going to get this right.I do not dismiss any of that. The apprehension is earned.

This is the dichotomy I live in every day — the space between those who lead with crazy, zany, hopeful innovation and those who rightfully ask: at what cost to the people already here? Both instincts are legitimate. Both deserve a seat at the table. And that is exactly why the Pittsburgh Technology Council built this summit.

The PA Data Center & Energy Innovation Summit returns March 27 at The Landing Hotel on Pittsburgh’s North Shore — our second year, double in size, sold out in six days last time. But this is not a victory lap. This is the collision that has to happen if Pennsylvania is going to get this right.

When I say collision, I mean it literally. This summit puts hyperscale operators like AWS and Google in the same room with ironworkers and pipefitters. It brings the Undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Energy into conversation with the manufacturers building grid-scale components right here in Western Pennsylvania — the region where George Westinghouse invented the grid in the first place. It convenes Ph.D. researchers alongside the trades, alternative energy developers alongside nuclear power agreement holders like Vista and Meta in Beaver County, battery storage innovators alongside the policymakers writing the rules that will determine whether Pennsylvania captures this moment or watches it migrate to Texas, Virginia, or overseas.

The summit is not a celebration. It is a working session for a business ecosystem that spans electricians and environmental scientists, fiber engineers and farmers worried about their water table.

We will release a new comprehensive study quantifying the surge of local jobs and investment across manufacturing, energy, and technology driven by the data center economy. Not projections. Measurements. Because in my world, the difference between grandstanding and governing is data.

And here is what keeps me up at night beyond the immediate build-out: the next wave. Quantum computing. Advanced AI architectures that will demand infrastructure we have not even designed yet. If we get the energy, workforce, and community frameworks right now — not perfect, but right — Pennsylvania positions itself not just for this cycle, but for the one after it. If we do not, we become what we have been before: a state that had every advantage and fumbled the execution.

The summit is not a celebration. It is a working session for a business ecosystem that spans electricians and environmental scientists, fiber engineers and farmers worried about their water table. It is built on the premise that Pennsylvania has not missed this moment — but the window to prove that is narrowing fast.

Stop watching. Start building. But build it right.