AWS files plans for 36-building data center campus at former Pennsylvania coal plant site Amazon Web Services has filed a Preliminary Land Development Plan for a 36-building data center campus in Homer City, Pennsylvania, marking a major step in the redevelopment of the site of the state's largest coal-burning power plant.

Scope of the proposed campus

The project will be located at the Homer City Energy Campus, approximately 50 miles east of Pittsburgh. The campus will span 1,100 acres of land in Center and Blacklick Townships in Indiana County, spread across six sites dubbed Bruner, Helen, Green, West, Harvey/Gaston, and Rura.

AWS plans to build 36 data centers on the site, along with ancillary office and storage space, electrical substation infrastructure, occupied and unoccupied security features, and redundant electrical generation. Each data center building will have two stories, reaching heights of 70 feet (21 meters), and 225,000 sq ft (20,903 sqm) of floor space.

Once operational, an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 jobs are expected to be created, with salaries averaging between USD 80,000 and USD 100,000.

Construction timeline

Construction will proceed over four phases, beginning in December 2026, with the last phase set to commence in January 2032. The campus aims to be fully completed by June 2036. Knighthead Capital Management is helping finance the project.

Powering the campus

The site will be powered by a 4.5GW natural gas power generation facility being constructed by Homer City Redevelopment.

The energy generated will primarily serve the data center campus, but more than 1GW will be injected back into the grid.

The land previously hosted the Homer City Generating Station, a 2GW coal power plant that operated from 1969 to 2023 and was the largest coal-burning power plant in Pennsylvania. Plans for the new gas plant were announced last year, with data centers named as a targeted customer.

Community commitments

AWS has committed to establishing a "community benefits agreement" intended to "mitigate community impacts and ensure the project delivers tangible local benefits," according to the Indiana County Office of Planning & Development.

Amazon has pledged to invest some USD 20 billion in Pennsylvania across multiple campuses. Earlier this month, AWS announced it was dropping non-disclosure agreements for its data center projects and committed USD 1 billion in additional community investments across the US.

Wider Pennsylvania expansion

The Homer City filing is the latest move in AWS's expanding footprint in Pennsylvania.

The company has been looking to develop in Salem Township since early 2024, where it acquired an existing data center from Talen Energy along with around 1,200 acres of land adjacent to the latter's nuclear power plant, with the aim of developing up to 15 buildings there.

AWS has also been looking to develop in Falls and Kline Townships. The company first shared its interest in developing at the Homer City site in early August, noting at the time that it was in discussions with Homer City Redevelopment. It has since filed the Preliminary Land Development Plan for the project.