The project will begin this year and cover about 3,200 acres.
Officials recently announced that the former Homer City Generating Station in Indiana County, Pennsylvania will be home to a natural gas-fired facility with as much as 4.5 GW of power generation.
The site was formerly the largest coal-burning power plant in Pennsylvania and will now be the largest natural gas-fired power station in the country. The 2-GW Homer City coal plant was decommissioned in July of 2023.
According to the Associated Press, the amount of electricity that will be generated by the power station is enough to power about three million homes.
Construction on the Homer City Energy Campus is set to begin this year, and it will cover about 3,200 acres.
William Wexler, president and CEO of Homer City Redevelopment LLC, said, “This project will honor Homer City’s place in the proud history of Pennsylvania energy generation, while accelerating the state and local community’s ability to meet the needs of a rapidly shifting energy landscape.”
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said at an event in Bethlehem, “I want to make sure that we win the battle on AI here in America, and we don’t let China beat us on that front. Pennsylvania is going to have something to say about it, because we have energy that can be used to power these data centers, that can be used to power the Gen AI models that we’re going to need in order to win. Now what we have to do as we generate that power and as power is used by the AI industry, is to ensure that it does not result in increased costs for consumers.”
Knighthead Capital Management LLC of New York is investing $10 billion in the project. Nebraska-based Kiewit Power Constructors Company will construct the facility.
Seven high efficiency 7HA.02 hydrogen-enabled, air-cooled, and gas-fired turbines will be provided by GE Vernova of Massachusetts.
The plans to build the natural gas-fired power plant were announced last year as part of the Commonwealth’s plan to move away from coal-fired power and towards the use of the state’s natural gas. The site will use natural gas from the Marcellus Shale, which is the largest natural gas field in the United States.
More than half of Pennsylvania’s electricity is generated from natural gas-fired power plants. More than three dozen of these operate in Pennsylvania, which is the second-largest producer of natural gas in the United States after Texas.
State Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, a Republican of Indiana County whose district includes the Homer City site, said the news “of a new and innovative data center being brought to the site in Indiana County is truly historic and incredibly exciting. This $10 billion capital investment will bring 10,000 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent jobs that will be housed at the Homer City Generating Station property. This will be the largest capital investment ever to be brought to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
Pittman continued, “Over the last several decades we have no doubt seen production of electricity in our region undergo a significant transition, which has had a substantial impact upon our local communities, labor employees and their families. This development is great news not just for Indiana County, but quite frankly for our entire region and our commonwealth.”
