By: Senator Tracy Pennycuick
As Chair of the Pennsylvania Senate and Communications Committee, I attended the recent AI and energy summit hosted by U.S. Senator Dave McCormick.
I had the opportunity to meet and hear first-hand from some of the world’s biggest companies who pledged over $90 billion in investments to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in Pennsylvania in sectors such as healthcare, infrastructure, energy, defense, and life sciences.
Given Pennsylvania’s position as a leading energy producer, the tech industry is increasingly interested in our Commonwealth because we can produce the power needed to run the data centers that fuel AI.
Executives from Alphabet’s Google, Meta and software firm Palantir attended the event. I spoke with Alphabet’s President and CIO Ruth Porat who is working to ensure small businesses benefit from AI and not just the Fortune 500. Working with the state Chamber of Business and Industry, Google plans to bring AI to Main Street and invest $25 billion into data centers in Pennsylvania and the surrounding region over the next two years. Google also said that it would put more than $3 billion into two hydropower facilities in Pennsylvania.
Power companies FirstEnergy and Constellation Energy are part of a group investing billions more into increasing electricity generation in the area. Constellation Energy will restart the Crane Clean Energy Center in 2027 – about a year ahead of schedule. The plant will generate electricity into the 2050’s and will add approximately 835 megawatts of reliable energy to the grid in Pennsylvania. The project also will create 3,400 jobs, deliver $3.6 billion in tax revenue and add $16 billion to the state’s GDP. In addition, the Limerick Clean Energy Center’s two nuclear reactors in Pottstown can produce up to 2,317 megawatts (MW) of clean, carbon-free energy, enough electricity to power the equivalent of more than 1.7 million homes.
Additional investments announced at the Energy and Innovation Summit included:
Anthropic committed $1 million over three years to support cybersecurity education to middle and high school students.
Blackstone announced a $25 billion investment in data center and energy infrastructure development in Northeast Pennsylvania. This investment is expected to create 6,000 construction jobs along with 3,000 new permanent jobs.
Capital Power announced $3 billion over 10 years to upgrade and expand a gas facility in Shamokin Dam.
CoreWeave announced a $6 billion investment to develop an up to 300-megawatt data center in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This new data center is expected to create 600 new construction jobs and 175 full-time operational jobs.
Energy Capital Partners announced a $5 billion plan to develop a data center at the York II Energy Center. This project is expected to create 2,500 new construction jobs. In addition, Energy Capital Partners plans to develop 51 community solar projects designed to power 24,000 homes.
Energy Innovation Center Infrastructure Academy plans to build a first-of-its-kind regional training facility for energy and AI infrastructure workers with the potential to impact more than 7,000 jobs across southwest Pennsylvania.
Equinor announced an investment of $1.6 billion, generating 1,000 direct and indirect jobs per year.
First Energy will invest $15 billion to expand power distribution, strengthen grid infrastructure, and operate the enhanced grid, supporting 56 of the 67 Pennsylvania counties.
Frontier Group announced plans to invest $3.2 billion to transform the former Bruce Mansfield coal powerplant into a natural gas power station in Shippingport.
GE Vernova announced up to $100 million of investment in Pennsylvania facilities.
PA Data Center Partners and Powerhouse Data Centers revealed plans to develop a $15 billion, 1.3 gigawatt, three-campus data center hub near Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
PPL Corporation will invest $6.8 billion through 2028 to expand grid capacity and modernize transmission across multiple Pennsylvania counties to support the growing power demand of data centers. The projects are expected to create 3,400 new jobs in Pennsylvania.
TC Energy announced plans to invest $400 million to modernize its gas pipeline network in Pennsylvania.
Westinghouse Electric Company is working to have 10 new, large nuclear power plant reactors under construction by 2030, generating what is currently estimated to be $6 billion in economic impact and 15,000 new jobs in southwest Pennsylvania.
These commitments will create tens of thousands of construction jobs and thousands of permanent jobs, signaling Pennsylvania’s readiness to power the AI and energy revolution, further strengthening America’s resilience.
Pennsylvania’s momentum is truly exciting. These new private and public sector investments give our Commonwealth and nation the advantage in AI and secure our energy independence for generations. A big thanks to Senator Dave McCormick for orchestrating this extraordinary summit and raising Pennsylvania’s profile in America and the world.
Senator Tracy Pennycuick represents the 24th district and includes parts of Berks and Montgomery counties.