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PA — Power Infrastructure Updated January 8, 2026

Pennsylvania

PJM Natural Gas Nuclear Solar Wind Storage Data Center PPAs Queue Bottlenecks Transmission Constraints

Overview

Pennsylvania is building faster than almost any state in PJM. The nuclear restarts at Three Mile Island and expanded Amazon contracts at Susquehanna add over 2.7 GW of carbon-free capacity, while the Homer City gas campus and PPL/Blackstone partnerships target gigawatt-scale data center loads. With 500 kV transmission upgrades in York County and rising solar and storage interconnection queues, Pennsylvania is reshaping its grid to serve the AI buildout.

Generation Projects

Natural Gas

Pennsylvania is adding multi-gigawatt gas generation to serve data center campuses and long-term tech contracts.

  • Homer City Energy Campus (Indiana County) — a 3,200-acre redevelopment of the former coal plant into a 4.5 GW gas-powered data center campus, with seven GE Vernova turbines and first deliveries in 2026.[1]
  • PPL/Blackstone Infrastructure joint venture — new gas-fired combined-cycle stations across Pennsylvania under long-term energy services agreements with data center operators, targeting areas with pipeline capacity and large-load demand.[2]
  • TECfusions Keystone Connect (New Kensington) — a 1,395-acre campus with 3 GW microgrid capacity planned, 1 GW leased today, and on-site gas supply infrastructure.[3]

Nuclear

Pennsylvania’s nuclear fleet is expanding through restarts and long-term PPAs (power purchase agreements — contracts to buy electricity).

  • Crane Clean Energy Center (Three Mile Island Unit 1 restart) — Constellation signs a 20-year PPA with Microsoft to restart TMI Unit 1, adding 835 MW of carbon-free generation to the grid.[4]
  • Susquehanna nuclear plant PPA for AWS — Talen expands its PPA with Amazon to supply 1,920 MW of nuclear power through 2042, with delivery ramping to full volume by 2032 and potential small modular reactors (SMRs) and uprates in Pennsylvania.[5]

Solar

Pennsylvania doubled its solar capacity in 17 months and is siting utility-scale projects on former coal mine land.

  • Black Moshannon Solar (Centre County) — Rush Township approves permits for a 265 MW utility-scale project on former coal mine land.[6]
  • Statewide utility-scale buildout — the PA PUC reports 2 GW of installed solar capacity, with more than 500 MW of grid-scale solar under construction and 47% of capacity coming from utility-scale projects.[7]

Wind

Pennsylvania is building wind on reclaimed coal mine sites.

  • CPV Rogue’s Wind (Cambria/Clearfield counties) — 114 MW wind project on former coal mine land, with commercial operation expected in 2026.[8]

Transmission and Grid

Pennsylvania is building new 500 kV lines and upgrading existing transmission to serve data center load growth and reliability needs.

  • PPL York County 500 kV projects — two new 500 kV lines (Three Mile Island–Chanceford and Chanceford–Peach Bottom), rebuilds of existing lines for 500 kV capacity, and a new switchyard in Chanceford Township, tied to data center-driven transmission reliability issues.[9]
  • PJM RTEP (regional transmission expansion plan) investment — $1.64 billion in RTEP projects for Pennsylvania, with rising load forecasts across transmission zones.[10]
  • Susquehanna transmission reconfiguration — Talen and Amazon plan a shift from a co-located arrangement to front-of-the-meter delivery after transmission reconfigurations expected in spring 2026.[5]

Battery Storage

Pennsylvania is planning multi-gigawatt-hour (GWh) battery storage near operating and retired power plants.

  • Eos Energy + Talen storage collaboration — multiple battery storage projects across Pennsylvania at or near operating and retired Talen sites, with a target of multiple GWh of capacity for AI-driven load growth.[11]

Data Center Power Agreements

Pennsylvania’s largest PPAs tie nuclear power to Microsoft and Amazon data center operations.

  • Microsoft + Constellation (20-year PPA for TMI Unit 1) — supports Microsoft’s carbon-free matching goals and enables the Crane Clean Energy Center restart.[4]
  • AWS + Talen (1,920 MW PPA from Susquehanna) — long-term PPA supplies nuclear power to AWS data centers in Pennsylvania and allows delivery to other sites statewide.[5]

Interconnection Queue

PJM’s Pennsylvania queue is dominated by solar and storage, with data center load growth driving transmission bottlenecks.

  • PJM queue mix — 49% solar and 21% storage of new interconnection requests. PJM’s active queue totals about 158,260 MW nameplate, dominated by solar (132,444 MW) and storage (53,409 MW), with 74,751 MW remaining in transition cycles as of June 2025.[10]
  • Data center load as a bottleneck — the PA PUC links data center load growth to the York County 500 kV transmission proposals, highlighting a near-term reliability constraint.[9]

What to Watch

  • PPL York County 500 kV hearings — public input on transmission reliability upgrades tied to data center demand.
  • Homer City first deliveries — whether the 4.5 GW campus meets its 2026–2027 timeline.
  • Talen/Amazon front-of-the-meter shift — spring 2026 transmission reconfiguration for Susquehanna PPA delivery.

Sources

[1] Homer City Redevelopment, “PRESS RELEASE: Homer City Redevelopment and Kiewit Announce Country’s Largest Natural Gas-Powered Data Center,” April 2, 2025, https://www.homercityredevelopment.com/post/former-homer-city-pa-coal-plant-officially-reopens-as-state-of-the-art-natural-gas-facility (accessed January 8, 2026).

[2] PPL Corporation, “PPL Corporation and Blackstone Infrastructure create joint venture to build natural gas generation in Pennsylvania in support of data center development,” July 15, 2025, https://investors.pplweb.com/2025-07-15-PPL-Corporation-and-Blackstone-Infrastructure-create-joint-venture-to-build-natural-gas-generation-in-Pennsylvania-in-support-of-data-center-development (accessed January 8, 2026).

[3] TECfusions, “New Kensington,” n.d., https://tecfusions.com/data-centers/new-kensington/ (accessed January 8, 2026).

[4] Constellation, “Constellation to Launch Crane Clean Energy Center, Restoring Jobs and Carbon-Free Power to The Grid,” September 20, 2024, https://www.constellationenergy.com/newsroom/2024/Constellation-to-Launch-Crane-Clean-Energy-Center-Restoring-Jobs-and-Carbon-Free-Power-to-The-Grid.html (accessed January 8, 2026).

[5] Talen Energy Corporation, “Talen Energy Expands Nuclear Energy Relationship with Amazon,” June 11, 2025, https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/06/11/3097385/0/en/Talen-Energy-Expands-Nuclear-Energy-Relationship-with-Amazon.html (accessed January 8, 2026).

[6] Ryan Kennedy, “Pennsylvania township approves permit for solar project on 2,000 acres of toxic coal mine land,” pv magazine USA, December 10, 2025, https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2025/12/10/pennsylvania-township-approves-permit-for-solar-project-on-2000-acres-of-toxic-coal-mine-land/ (accessed January 8, 2026).

[7] Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, “Pennsylvania Doubles Solar Power Generation in Just 17 Months,” July 22, 2025, https://www.puc.pa.gov/press-release/2025/pennsylvania-doubles-solar-power-generation-in-just-17-months-07-22-25 (accessed January 8, 2026).

[8] Competitive Power Ventures (CPV), “CPV Renewables Begins Construction on Wind Project in Pennsylvania, CPV’s Third Project Utilizing Former Coal Mine Land,” August 22, 2024, https://cpv.com/2024/08/22/cpv-renewables-begins-construction-on-wind-project-in-pennsylvania-cpvs-third-project-utilizing-former-coal-mine-land/ (accessed January 8, 2026).

[9] Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, “PUC Announces Public Input Hearings on PPL Transmission Line Projects in York County,” January 13, 2025, https://www.puc.pa.gov/press-release/2025/puc-announces-public-input-hearings-on-ppl-transmission-line-projects-in-york-county-01132025 (accessed January 8, 2026).

[10] PJM Interconnection, “2024 Pennsylvania State Infrastructure Report,” June 2025, https://www.pjm.com/-/media/DotCom/library/reports-notices/state-specific-reports/2024/pennsylvania.pdf (accessed January 8, 2026).

[11] Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc., “Eos Energy and Talen Energy Announce Strategic Collaboration to Advance Power Capacity for AI Infrastructure in Pennsylvania,” October 21, 2025, https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/10/21/3170177/0/en/Eos-Energy-and-Talen-Energy-Announce-Strategic-Collaboration-to-Advance-Power-Capacity-for-AI-Infrastructure-in-Pennsylvania.html (accessed January 8, 2026).