“ One of the most ambitious projects ” heads for the Pennsylvania

President Trump promised a return to coal, but a city of Pennsylvania does not have it. What was once the state’s large operating coal plant in Homer City, about 50 Miles East of Pittsburgh, was partially imploded last month to make way for a huge ai data-center campus to be powered by natural gas from the adjacer marcellus shale basin, the Wall Street Journal Reports. It could become the largest gas plant in the country, generating up to 4.5 gigawatts of power – enough for the power of Manhattan, or more than 3 million average American households. This is “one of the most ambitious projects to emerge in the middle of a boom in the energy demand from data centers that perform AI operations,” according to Bloomberg.

The Homer City Energy campus, extending more than 3,200 acres, will be able to provide energy to thousands of local houses, said the redevelopment of Homer City (UNHCR) and the manufacturer Kiewit Power Constructors Co. on Wednesday but it will be “designed to respond to growing artificial intelligence … and high performance IT … The needs of innovative technological companies shaping the digital future of America” A press release. The Homer-City coal generation station closed in 2023 after 54 years of operation due to “higher price combination of coal and cheap electricity prices”, according to the Newspaper.

The redevelopment planning then began as the factory “had the infrastructure and the ability to generate a lot of power,” said Andrew Shannahan, partner of the investment company Knighthead Capital Management, the majority owner of HCR. The preparation of the site and the infrastructure to provide energy to the data centers and the network will cost more than $ 10 billion, according to the Newspaper. The data centers will cost “billions more”, by Quartz. The cooling towers and three of the four batteries of the old generation station were imploded on March 22. The fourth battery should soon go down. The construction of the gas power station could then start later this year. Managers expect to start generating energy at the end of 2027. (More stories from Pennsylvania.)