Western Pennsylvania / Eastern Ohio
Follow the power, places, people, and policy shaping the region’s digital infrastructure. A collection of 100 research links across six connected themes.
Showing 100 of 100 entries
Links #1–20
Ratepayer advocates from five states argue that FERC’s large-load interconnection order leaves PJM consumers exposed to data center transmission upgrade costs and call for stronger cost-allocation protections.
PJM's board advanced a proposal requiring large new data center loads to secure their own power supply resources before connecting to the grid, with Pennsylvania's Shapiro administration moving to codify similar requirements into state rules for facilities over 25 MW.
A Pennsylvania PUC–commissioned study found PJM's loss-of-load expectation could exceed planning criteria by up to 100x by 2030, driven primarily by surging data center additions, with worst-case scenarios projecting more than 13 loss-of-load days per year.
The Pennsylvania PUC voted to open proceedings on emergency curtailment rules and cost allocation for data centers, and to form a ratemaking working group, as industrial load growth of 18.56% over five years—driven largely by data centers—strains the PJM grid.
NERC CEO Jim Robb argues the U.S. must shift its approach to grid expansion—enabling faster siting, treating data center load as an active grid participant, embracing a technology-mix generation fleet, and recognizing societal benefits of trillion-dollar infrastructure investment to compete globally in AI.
Utilities are sharply tightening large-load tariff terms since early 2025, with requirements for upfront system impact study payments, ramp-up schedules, non-refundable deposits, and exit fees averaging 12 years for post-2025 proposals vs. 5 years for earlier ones, as data centers face mounting cost-responsibility requirements.
PJM's capacity auction for the 2028–29 delivery year cleared at the $325/MW-day price cap across its region with a 6.8 GW shortfall below the 20% reserve margin target, with only 525 MW of new resources clearing while forecast demand rose ~2 GW largely due to data centers.
Despite near-record U.S. electric demand of 666 GW during the 2025/26 winter, unplanned generation outages dropped nearly 50% from Winter Storm Elliott levels; MISO imported up to 9 GW from PJM during cold weather, demonstrating interregional transfer value, though no data center backup generation was activated.
Climavision opened its 31-radar network across 15 states—including Pennsylvania within PJM—to data center subscribers, offering sub-10,000-foot weather forecasting to help large loads avoid curtailment by better anticipating grid stress events.
The Clean Air Task Force says PJM states should adopt scenario-based long-term planning, technology roadmaps, and state-led procurement to address data-center-driven load growth that competitive wholesale markets alone cannot resolve, citing Illinois's 2026 Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act as model legislation.
S&P Global analysts warn that U.S. electricity rates have risen 38% since 2020—driven by data centers and climate change—with affordability pressures threatening municipal credit quality if population and business migration shifts away from high-rate cities.
Gov. Josh Shapiro's executive order offers expedited state permitting for data centers over 25 MW that sign consent orders requiring them to source electricity from new generation—including 10% firm clean energy ramping to 32% by 2035—and pay all interconnection costs, in an attempt to shift reliability risks away from ratepayers.
PJM called demand response resources across its footprint to maintain operations during unusually warm September weather, while real-time LMP shows Ohio Hub at $37.43/MWh and Duquesne zone at $33.08/MWh, illustrating the regional pricing grid data centers and developers use for siting decisions.
Google, Xcel Energy, and utilities support MISO's proposed Zero Injection Generator Interconnection Agreement, which would offer 90-day expedited reviews for on-site generation paired with large loads, as FERC pushes grid operators to address large-load interconnection backlogs affecting data center timelines.
EIA forecasts U.S. electricity consumption will rise 2% in both 2026 and 2027 to record levels, with PJM accounting for nearly 45% of total U.S. generation growth, as data centers and manufacturing drive commercial sector sales up 3.3%.
As part of a dual transaction, Shell acquired a 169-MW gas-fired portfolio in Pennsylvania's PJM territory, reflecting how data center-driven power demand is spurring asset repositioning by energy majors across the PJM footprint.
Google agreed to purchase energy and capacity from MN8 Energy's 86 MW solar-plus-storage Mammoth Solar project in West Virginia—featuring 100 MWh of zinc long-duration storage from Eos Energy Enterprises—to match clean energy capacity with Google's regional PJM data center load profiles.
The EPA under the Trump administration moved to repeal carbon capture and storage-based power plant standards, a policy shift that may accelerate gas-fired generation investment in PJM as data centers demand firm power supply.
Explainer on Pennsylvania's 2026 executive order establishing infrastructure development standards for data centers over 25 MW, including the requirement to source power from new generation and pay all grid connection costs, affecting speculative developers.
Governor Shapiro frames data center policy as a state economic priority requiring balancing speed, reliability, and consumer protection, while state agencies fast-track clean energy and storage permitting on brownfield sites.
Links #21–35
Pennsylvania's U.S. Sens. Dave McCormick and John Fetterman roundly rejected AI regulation at the AI Horizons Pittsburgh Summit, framing data center expansion as an existential competition with China and calling for a cabinet-level AI position, with Fetterman comparing AI development to the Manhattan Project.
Western Pennsylvania's data center boom is driving a 50% surge in fracking activity, with 428 new wells drilled in 2025 (up from ~285 in 2024) to supply natural gas for data center power generation, concentrated in Washington, Greene, Allegheny, and Westmoreland counties.
AWS continued expansion of its Ohio cloud infrastructure regions, adding availability zones in Columbus and the surrounding corridor, reflecting the Midwest's growing importance as a cloud hub for enterprise and AI workloads.
Meta announced plans for a multi-building data center campus in the Columbus region, representing one of the largest single-site technology infrastructure commitments in Ohio's history, with local economic development officials coordinating utilities and workforce pipelines.
The TECFusions Keystone Connect project—built on the former Alcoa/Arconic research property in Upper Burrell, PA—brought its first building online in June and is planned to reach up to 3 gigawatts of power capacity by 2031, sourcing power from natural gas wells on-site.
FracTracker Alliance data manager Matt Kelso estimated the majority of the Pennsylvania data center buildout will be powered by fracked gas, requiring not just wells but pipelines, trucking, water usage, and injection wells to meet demand.
Colocation giant Equinix maintains Pittsburgh-area Points of Presence (PoPs) serving enterprise customers across the region, with carrier-neutral interconnection options at its Pittsburgh IBX facilities.
Digital Realty's investor materials document continued colocation demand in secondary markets including Pittsburgh, with occupancy rates and pricing trends tracked for the Midwest/Pennsylvania submarket.
QTS operates data center facilities in Pennsylvania providing hybrid IT and colocation services to government, enterprise, and hyperscale customers, with its Pennsylvania campuses offering high-density power configurations needed for AI workloads.
Stack Infrastructure's market analysis for the Midwest highlights Pittsburgh and Ohio as emerging hyperscale markets, with build-to-suit and wholesale colocation options attracting enterprise and hyperscale tenants seeking proximity to Appalachian natural gas and PJM grid infrastructure.
Iron Mountain's Pennsylvania data center facilities offer compliant colocation for healthcare, government, and financial services customers, with hybrid cloud connect services bridging on-premises and cloud environments.
CyrusOne operates major data center facilities in Ohio, with colocation and wholesale offerings in the Cincinnati and Columbus markets serving enterprise and hyperscale customers.
A Nature analysis examined how AI workloads are forcing grid operators, utilities, and regulators to rethink planning assumptions, transmission expansion, and demand forecasting as data centers emerge as the dominant new load category in PJM and MISO territories.
Wired reported on the irony of former Appalachian coal communities—already economically devastated—now competing to host data centers and the gas-fired generation needed to power them, as tech companies seek proximity to gas infrastructure and willing local governments.
Bloomberg covered Pennsylvania regulators' contentious debates over how to allocate data center infrastructure costs, with utilities, developers, consumer advocates, and municipalities each pushing competing frameworks as 86 proposed data center sites move through the pipeline.
Links #36–50
Supporters and opponents weigh the opportunities and uncertainties surrounding proposed hyperscale data centers across Western Pennsylvania as developers pursue projects and residents consider their regional impacts.
Multi-tenant data center vacancy and absorption data for the Pittsburgh metropolitan area shows tight supply with rising rental rates as hyperscale demand outpaces available powered land and built shell inventory.
JLL's annual US data center outlook identified Pittsburgh, Columbus, and the Ohio River Valley as emerging high-growth submarkets, with industrial-to-data-center conversion activity increasing in second-tier markets where land and power costs remain below primary hyperscale markets.
CBRE's research shows Midwest data center absorption reached record levels in early 2025, with Pittsburgh and Columbus among the top emerging markets, as companies seek alternatives to overheated Northern Virginia and Silicon Valley markets.
Newmark's data center capital markets team tracked a surge in data center real estate transactions in Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio, with private equity, REIT, and infrastructure fund interest intensifying for portfolio acquisitions and development deals.
Bisnow reported on Pittsburgh's data center development pipeline, profiling projects in the Bellwether District (former South Philly refinery site), Upper Burrell, and Northeast Philadelphia as potential hyperscale locations under active consideration by developers.
Philadelphia's planning commission identified the former South Philly refinery (Bellwether District) and a city-owned plot near Northeast Philadelphia airport as the only two locations suitable for industrial-scale data centers, reviving debates over industrial rezoning.
PA DCED published infrastructure development standards in February 2026 requiring data center developers to fund all interconnection, transmission, and distribution network upgrades caused by their projects, forming the basis of Shapiro's executive order consent agreement framework.
Allegheny County updated zoning guidance for data center facilities as conditional uses in certain industrial and mixed-use districts, with new setback, noise, and aesthetic requirements reflecting community concerns about large-scale digital infrastructure.
The Tech Belt initiative promoted the Youngstown-Warren corridor as a data center destination, citing access to multiple utility feeds, low-cost land, and proximity to major fiber routes traversing the Appalachian region.
Ohio's Data Center Incentive Program offers sales tax exemptions on qualifying data center equipment and electricity for facilities meeting investment and job creation thresholds, competing with Pennsylvania for regional data center projects.
Annual tracking of certified data center projects in Pennsylvania and Ohio shows a combined pipeline exceeding 15 GW of planned capacity, with Pennsylvania accounting for the majority of proposed new builds.
Analysis of transmission constraints in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area notes that new 345 kV infrastructure and substation upgrades are needed to support hyperscale data center campuses in the 100+ MW range, with PPL and Duquesne Light both planning major capital programs.
Private equity-backed data center developers were reported acquiring large industrial-zoned tracts in Western Pennsylvania, paying premiums over industrial benchmarks to secure sites with available utility interconnection capacity.
ENR's construction coverage tracked ongoing data center builds in the region, including structural, electrical, and mechanical trades workforce demand, with general contractors reporting 18–24-month timelines from ground break to commissioned facility.
Links #51–65
In an opinion column, Kenneth Broadbent argues that data center investment can create construction and ongoing operations careers for union tradespeople in Western Pennsylvania.
PA Skills Alliance partnered with data center operators and construction firms to develop pre-apprenticeship programs for electrical, mechanical, and networking trades targeted at data center construction and operations careers.
CCAC launched a data center operations technician certificate program in partnership with regional data center operators, covering electrical systems, HVAC, network fundamentals, and industry certifications such as CompTIA Data+ and DCFC.
Ohio's workforce agency profiled data center career pathways including facilities technicians, network engineers, and security specialists, with average salaries in the $55,000–$95,000 range depending on role and region.
Coverage of Pittsburgh's AI Horizons Summit included panels on workforce development pipelines for data center construction and operations, with regional community colleges and universities coordinating curriculum with tech employers.
The Pittsburgh Technology Council's workforce initiatives included data center operations as a growing sector, with member companies reporting demand for hundreds of skilled facilities and IT workers per 100 MW of new data center capacity.
Ohio University's Russ College houses a Center for Scientific Computing and Immersive Technologies conducting research in high-performance computing, bioinformatics, and machine learning—skills directly applicable to data center design, operations, and the AI workloads they support.
Penn State researchers published work on data center energy management and waste heat recovery, exploring synergies between data center thermal management and regional district heating systems in Pennsylvania communities.
CMU's College of Engineering and School of Computer Science conduct research on data center cooling, AI hardware efficiency, and sustainable computing, positioning Pittsburgh as a source of R&D talent for companies building and operating regional facilities.
University of Pittsburgh economists have studied the economic impact of data center development on the Pittsburgh region, estimating significant direct and indirect employment effects alongside fiscal contributions to local taxing bodies.
Ohio TechNet, a consortium of community colleges including Columbus State, developed stackable credentials and credit pathways for data center careers, aligned with CompTIA and BICSI standards for facilities and network infrastructure.
PEDA analyzed competitive data center incentive packages across Pennsylvania municipalities, finding that local tax abatements, utility coordination agreements, and workforce development commitments were key factors in developer site selection decisions.
Community advocates pushed data center developers for equity hiring commitments covering construction and permanent operations jobs, particularly targeting underrepresented communities in neighborhoods adjacent to proposed sites.
Labor market analysis for the Ohio Valley region found that data center construction trades commanded prevailing wage premiums of 15–25% above residential construction rates due to specialized electrical and mechanical skills required.
Allegheny Township supervisors reported receiving over $1 million from five well pads—nearly matching its $1.3 million annual budget—while Upper Burrell supervisors received $100,000 from the Porter well pad, illustrating the fiscal impacts of gas development driven by data center power demand.
Links #66–80
In-depth investigation documenting how the Pennsylvania data center boom is directly increasing fracking activity, with the FracTracker Alliance projecting substantial new well, pipeline, and water withdrawal demands to supply gas-fired power for digital infrastructure.
FracTracker's interactive mapping tool shows 6,100+ active wells in Westmoreland County and hundreds more in Allegheny County, with data updated to illustrate the spatial relationship between gas extraction and proposed data center campuses.
Protect PT, founded in 2014, has spent 11 years fighting CNX's Drakulic well pad in Penn Township through litigation and regulatory appeals, recently winning a temporary victory when CNX's drilling permits expired without renewal—a model for community-scale resistance to data center–driven gas development.
The Clean Air Council advocated for expanded air quality monitoring near data center campuses and associated gas infrastructure, citing particulate matter, VOCs, and NOx emissions from compressor stations and gas-fired generation.
The Environmental Integrity Project, Clean Air Council, and allies advocated increasing Pennsylvania's well pad setbacks from 500 feet to 3,281 feet from buildings and drinking water wells, and 5,280 feet from schools and hospitals, citing health risks from data center–fueled drilling expansion.
PennEnvironment raised concerns about water consumption by data center cooling systems and associated gas development, noting that each unconventional Marcellus Shale well requires millions of gallons of fresh water for hydraulic fracturing.
The Pennsylvania Sierra Club chapter opposes expedited permitting for data centers not powered by 100% clean energy, calling for stronger grid-cleaning requirements than Shapiro's executive order's 10% initial firm clean energy threshold.
NRDC advocate Claire Lang-Ree called on PJM to remove data centers that haven't brought their own new supply from capacity auctions and implement strong "connect and manage" frameworks to prevent ratepayer-funded reliability risks from data center development.
NRDC released a statement saying PJM's high capacity prices demonstrate the need to require data centers to pay for dedicated generation and transmission infrastructure rather than spreading costs across all ratepayers.
CVP political director Katie Blume said Shapiro's executive order would "weed out bad actors" by requiring new power supply commitments, noting that Pennsylvania had seen an "unacceptable number of speculative" data center proposals from developers with no regard for local communities.
A coalition of activist groups including Philly Thrive and 215 People's Alliance gathered at Philadelphia City Hall to demand a moratorium on data center construction, citing community health risks, increased utility costs, and environmental justice concerns for neighborhoods adjacent to proposed hyperscale sites.
The NLC database showed at least 81 cities and counties nationally had enacted data center development moratoria as of mid-2026, with Pennsylvania municipalities increasingly joining this trend amid growing public opposition.
Pennsylvania DEP data showed that natural gas operations in 2025 withdrew billions of gallons of freshwater from Pennsylvania waterways, with DEP developing new tracking mechanisms as data center–linked drilling activity increases water demand in the Marcellus region.
Research published by the Geological Society examined the potential for injection well operations associated with fracking wastewater disposal to induce seismic events in Pennsylvania, raising concerns as data center–driven drilling increases injection well activity.
Earthjustice filed comments and advocacy on behalf of community groups opposing data center development in Pennsylvania, focusing on disparate environmental and health impacts on low-income and minority communities hosting gas infrastructure.
Links #81–100
The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau calls for a temporary pause on data center development so lawmakers can study community impacts, support small municipalities, and strengthen farmland protections.
Governing magazine's profile of Columbus as a growing Midwest technology hub highlighted Mayor Andrew Ginther's strategic investments in digital infrastructure, workforce development, and public-private partnerships to attract tech companies and data center operators.
The Columbus Chamber reported a surge in tech company relocations and expansions, with data center operators among the companies driving demand for commercial real estate, utilities, and professional services across the central Ohio market.
The Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, the economic development arm of the Allegheny Conference, actively marketed the Pittsburgh region to data center developers, emphasizing access to PJM power, existing fiber infrastructure, and a skilled workforce pipeline.
The Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber promoted the Mahoning Valley as an emerging technology corridor, leveraging low-cost utilities, available industrial buildings, and regional fiber assets to attract data center and edge computing facilities.
Ohio's SiteOhio certification program qualified multiple shovel-ready data center sites across the state, providing developers with pre-certified environmental, utility, and transportation data to accelerate project permitting.
Pennsylvania's Fast Track Permit Program, established in 2024 to expedite data center permitting, was rescinded by Shapiro's 2026 executive order which removed existing data center projects from the program and barred confidential agreements between state agencies and developers.
Pennsylvania lawmakers introduced House Bill 1678 to tax digital advertising by large tech companies, with proceeds potentially offsetting infrastructure costs associated with data center development—a proposal drawing scrutiny from industry groups and legal experts.
Penn State Extension economists documented the fiscal contributions of natural gas development to Pennsylvania municipal budgets, finding that impact fees and royalty payments significantly benefit host municipalities, creating political support for data center–driven drilling expansion.
OSU's John Glenn College of Public Affairs researched the cost-benefit analysis of Ohio's data center tax incentive program, finding positive fiscal returns for the state but questioning whether incentive levels were calibrated appropriately given market demand.
Spotlight PA reported on state legislation enabling Penn State to explore potential campus real estate transactions, with implications for whether university land holdings could be repurposed for data center or technology development.
Canary Media reported on the growing pressure on data center operators in Ohio and Pennsylvania to procure renewable energy to meet corporate sustainability commitments, with solar and wind PPAs increasingly used to greenlight local development approvals.
Pew's research on state data center policies identified Pennsylvania and Ohio as case studies in balancing tech sector growth with ratepayer protection, recommending transparent cost allocation and performance bonds to cover infrastructure retirement costs.
Brookings researchers analyzed the spatial distribution of data center investment across the U.S., finding that secondary markets like Pittsburgh and Columbus were increasingly competitive against traditional hubs, but required coordinated public-private investment in power and fiber infrastructure.
The Ohio Manufacturers' Association raised concerns that data center power demand growth was driving up industrial electricity rates, with manufacturers competing with hyperscalers for grid capacity in the AEP and FirstEnergy service territories.
The Pittsburgh Foundation commissioned a study on the equity implications of data center development in the region, examining workforce access, environmental justice, and property value impacts on adjacent communities.
At the AI Horizons Pittsburgh Summit, Gov. Shapiro called for federal AI regulation modeled on pharmaceutical and aerospace oversight frameworks, drawing a distinction between fast AI development and responsible deployment, and noting Pennsylvania's responsibility to manage data center impacts on communities.
Data Center Coalition executive VP Dan Diorio emphasized that responsible data center developers build only where authorized under local, state, and federal rules, cautioning against policy changes midstream that could undermine verified and responsible investment commitments.
The Pennsylvania PUC published its full commissioned study by Synapse Energy Economics, Mondre Energy, and Aspen Technologies, projecting PA's energy export role declining from 91 TWh in 2025 to 38 TWh by 2040 as data center load grows, with the state potentially becoming a net importer under high-growth scenarios.
LBNL and Brattle researchers analyzed 264 large-load tariff filings catalogued by Halcyon, identifying 18 distinct tariff elements ranging from minimum contract durations (5–20 years) to upfront study deposits and exit fees, with average qualifying thresholds ranging from under 1 MW to 150 MW across jurisdictions.
No entries match your search. Try a broader keyword or clear the search.