U.S. data center company Aligned Data Centers held a groundbreaking ceremony for a large data center campus named “Project Phoenix” at the former Bruce Mansfield coal-fired power plant site in Shippingport, Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Groundbreaking took place on September 11.
The project consists of three data center buildings with a total capacity of 2GW, notably adopting a design that supplies power through its own on-site natural gas generation facility rather than relying on the broader PJM power grid. The generation fuel will be sourced from the nearby Marcellus shale gas field. Atlanta-based Holder Construction serves as the primary contractor, with Carnegie, Pennsylvania-based Kokosing Industrial serving as the general contractor.
Total generation capacity is 2GW, with the regional economic impact estimated at $10 billion. The construction workforce is reported at 3,000, with approximately 640 permanent jobs. Aligned purchased the 650-acre site from Frontier Group of Companies for $223 million in July.
As data center power demand surges across the United States, an increasing number of projects are adopting “behind-the-meter” arrangements with on-site self-generation rather than waiting for interconnection to the broader power grid, and former coal plant sites are being favored as locations for such projects because they allow reuse of existing transmission infrastructure.
Amid expanding demand for AI computing, the U.S. data center industry has been increasingly pursuing campus developments combined with self-generated gas power to shorten grid interconnection wait times, and this project is cited as a representative example. Reusing former coal plant sites allows existing infrastructure such as substations and transmission lines to be utilized directly, shortening development timelines, and similar redevelopment projects at retired coal plant sites are likely to increase across the United States. However, the expansion of self-generated gas power for data centers is creating new demand for shale gas fields such as the Marcellus and Utica, while also intensifying the ongoing shortage of gas turbine supply, which is expected to heighten competition for related equipment procurement.
A primary point to watch is whether the phased completion and operation schedule for the three data center buildings will be disclosed. Whether the gas turbine manufacturer and detailed generation capacity configuration for the on-site power facility will be confirmed, and whether the project will actually operate fully disconnected from the PJM grid or maintain partial interconnection, are also worth watching. In addition, it remains to be confirmed whether similar data center and power projects utilizing former coal plant sites will be announced in other regions.