Pennsylvania Data Center News

Jan 23, 2026

Episode for January 23, 2026

The Allegheny Front published a podcast episode summarizing multiple regional environmental issues on January 23, 2026.

Episode coverage: The podcast discusses a study of Eastern wildfire risk, residents’ concerns about fracking wastewater contaminating drinking water in an eastern Ohio town, the closure of Pittsburgh’s newspaper of record, and a Pennsylvania policy hearing where lawmakers and consumer advocates blamed new data centers for rising home energy prices.
Additional details: The episode also covers the Pennsylvania Game Commission considering moving the firearms deer season start to the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and researchers investigating removal of microplastics and PFAS from drinking water; it quotes the Pennsylvania consumer advocate saying “Data centers must pay their own way.”
- Episode date: January 23, 2026
- Episode duration: 29:24

Jan 22, 2026

CBRE’s 2026 Data Center Outlook: Demand Surges as Delivery Becomes the Constraint

CBRE announced its 2026 U.S. data center outlook and confirmed the acquisition of Pearce Services (announced November 4, 2025), positioning the firm to address power and execution constraints in large-scale data center delivery.

Main announcement: CBRE’s outlook finds the U.S. data center market constrained by power delivery rather than land, capital, or connectivity; developers and occupiers now prioritize sites capable of supporting 300-MW-plus deliveries within 36 months, with preleasing expected in the mid-70% range and construction/interconnection timelines commonly extending 24–48 months for incremental generation or transmission upgrades.
Acquisition and execution detail: CBRE acquired Pearce Services (announced Nov 4, 2025) for approximately $1.2 billion in cash plus an earn-out up to $115 million; Pearce is forecast to generate > $660 million revenue and > $90 million EBITDA in 2026, and CBRE expects to produce > $350 million of Core EBITDA from its digital and power infrastructure services businesses in 2026; financial advisors included J.P. Morgan Securities and Wells Fargo, with legal advisers Sullivan & Cromwell (CBRE) and Ropes & Gray (Pearce/New Mountain Capital).

Jan 22, 2026

Pa. officials urge lawmakers to tax data centers, offset home energy spikes

Consumer advocates and Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission Chair Stephen DeFrank urged state lawmakers to tax data centers to prevent existing utility customers from bearing the costs of grid upgrades.

Main action:Darryl Lawrence (Pennsylvania’s consumer advocate) and PUC Chair Stephen DeFrank testified at a joint House hearing urging that data centers be taxed or otherwise charged so that costs for grid upgrades are not ‘largely allocated to existing consumers.’ The hearing referenced PJM forecasts showing large peak load growth over the next 15 years, and included testimony from Asim Haque (PJM) warning of grid reliability risks.
Background/details:House Democrats have proposed legislation to protect ratepayers from costs “directly attributable” to data centers (proposal sits with the Energy Committee). A December Emerson College poll found 71% of Pennsylvanians are concerned about data center electricity use. Separately, governors and the White House endorsed extending a PJM price cap expected to save ~$27 billion across the PJM region over two years, with $5 billion estimated for Pennsylvania; the proposal would also urge a 15-year emergency auction for tech companies to buy power.

Jan 21, 2026

Vertical integration improves capital efficiencies through scale, stability, goal alignment

EQT Corp announced it achieved net zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 for its upstream operations in 2024.

Operational and decarbonization actions: EQT reports net zero (Scope 1 & 2) in 2024, a 100% electric frac fleet, replacement of more than 8,000 natural gas pneumatic devices completed in under 18 months, and participation in nearly 15,000 aerial surveys over 20,500 square miles via the Appalachia Methane Initiative.
Integration, investments and synergies: After acquiring Equitrans EQT became a vertically integrated operator, actively developing ~1.5 million lateral feet/year, underwrote nearly $20 billion in deals over six years, realized $60 million in capital synergies this past year with $250 million anticipated over the next few years, and is an equity investor in Context Labs (working with KPMG) for carbon accounting and verification.

Jan 21, 2026

Virginia proposes 20.78GW storage mandate as Trump, governors call for emergency PJM grid measures

Virginia state delegate Richard C. ‘Rip’ Sullivan, Jr has introduced HB895 to raise mandatory energy storage procurement targets for Appalachian Power and Dominion Energy Virginia.

Main announcement: HB895 would require Appalachian Power to add 780MW short-duration by 2040 and 520MW long-duration by 2045, and Dominion Energy to add 16,000MW short-duration and 3,480MW long-duration by 2045; the bill is nearly identical to HB2537 (vetoed May 2025) but raises Dominion’s short-duration target from 5,220MW to 16,000MW within the same timeframe.
Background and related actions: The Trump administration and a bipartisan group of governors urged PJM (16 January) to hold an emergency procurement auction and to build more than US$15 billion of baseload generation; PJM responded by initiating a “Reliability Backstop Procurement” and directed immediate process discussions and deadlines to be considered at the 22 January Members Committee meeting. The bill and procurement push are motivated by rapidly rising demand in Virginia—driven largely by data centres—and recommendations from groups such as MAREC Action, NRDC, and Environment America.

Jan 20, 2026

Cisco extends Nexus 9000 support to Intel Gaudi 3 AI accelerators

Cisco announced certification and integration of Intel Gaudi 3 servers with its Nexus 9000 Series switches.

Main announcement: Cisco certified its Nexus 9364E-SG2 switches and OSFP-800G-DR8 transceivers to support Intel Gaudi 3 servers (each Gaudi 3 server contains eight Gaudi 3 accelerators). The integration targets scale-out LLM training, inference, and generative AI workloads using an 800 GbE non-blocking RoCEv2 back-end network and supports connections such as 4 x 200 GbE between the switches and Gaudi 3 servers.
Background and details: The Nexus 9364E-SG2 offers port configurations including 64 x 800 GbE / 128 x 400 GbE / 256 x 200 GbE / 512 x 100 GbE and comes in OSFP (9364E-SG2-O) and QSFP-DD (9364E-SG2-Q) models; Cisco Nexus Dashboard is cited as the centralized management platform. The article references Cisco partnerships and validated designs with Nvidia, AMD, and Pensando, and cites commentary from Alan Weckel (650 Group).

Jan 19, 2026

Constellation Completes Acquisition of Calpine; Groups Have 55 GW of Generation Capacity

Constellation has completed its acquisition of Calpine Corp. from Energy Capital Partners (ECP).

Transaction completed: Constellation completed the announced cash-and-stock acquisition of Calpine (initially announced as a $16.4-billion deal a year earlier); the transaction has a total value of $26.6 billion including debt, and the combined company will have 55 GW of generation capacity and serve 2.5 million retail and business customers. The merged company will maintain headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland, with a significant presence in Houston, Texas, and will supply power to data centers, advanced manufacturing, and critical infrastructure.
Regulatory settlement and divestitures: To resolve U.S. antitrust concerns the DOJ Antitrust Division and the Texas Attorney General required the divestiture of six power plants (four serving PJM and two serving ERCOT): Bethlehem Energy Center; York Energy Center (York 1 and York 2); Hay Road Energy Center; Edge Moor Energy Center; Jack A. Fusco Energy Center; Gregory Power Plant. The DOJ filed a proposed consent decree (the Division’s first electricity-merger consent decree in 14 years) to address competition concerns in ERCOT and PJM.

Jan 19, 2026

Many Pa. residents don’t want data centers in their communities. State leaders are welcoming them.

Amazon Web Services announced a planned $20 billion investment to build two data centers in eastern Pennsylvania.

Main announcement: Amazon Web Services announced a planned $20 billion private-sector investment to build two data centers in eastern Pennsylvania, cited by Gov. Josh Shapiro; the article reports large private investments (described as “tens of billions of dollars”) from companies like AWS and Blackstone to expand data center capacity in the state. The piece highlights local permit activity by Pennhurst Holdings LLC seeking conditional use permitting in Chester County.
Background and legislative response: State lawmakers have introduced or proposed multiple measures: bills to speed permitting tied to environmental commitments, Rep. Rob Matzie’s proposal to let the Public Utility Commission regulate data centers (including fees and deposits), proposals to require reporting of energy and water usage to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and proposals for moratoria (e.g., a two-year moratorium proposed by Sen. Katie Muth). The article documents local opposition (residents, county examples), specific local hearings, and concerns about millions of gallons of water usage and grid impacts.

Jan 17, 2026

White House and Governors Pressure Grid Operator to Boost Power, Slow Electricity Hikes

The White House and 13 governors urged PJM Interconnection to hold a power auction requiring tech companies to bid on 15-year contracts so data centers pay for new generation capacity.

Main announcement: The White House, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, joined by 13 governors, called on PJM to run an auction for 15-year power contracts that would have data center operators (not regular consumers) finance new power plants; they also asked PJM to extend a wholesale payment cap that currently limits increases through mid-2028.
Background and details: PJM was not invited to the event and said it will review recommendations; later PJM issued its own plan proposing a formula to cut power to large grid users (including data centers) during emergencies and to fast-track interconnection of new plants. The mid-Atlantic grid covers parts/all of 13 states (New Jersey to Illinois) and Washington, D.C., and analysts say ratepayers are already paying billions more to underwrite power supplies for some data centers (no specific dollar amounts provided in this article).

Jan 17, 2026

Will AI kickstart a new age of nuclear power?

The UN article reports that the IAEA convened policymakers, technology companies and nuclear industry leaders in Vienna to explore how nuclear power can enable AI expansion and how AI can drive innovation in nuclear energy.

Main announcement/action: The IAEA-led discussions in Vienna brought together policymakers, technology companies and nuclear industry leaders to examine nuclear energy as a core solution for powering AI; cited figures include expected global electricity growth of >10,000 TWh by 2035, 71 new reactors under construction, and 441 reactors currently operating. The article highlights concrete corporate actions: Microsoft signed a 20-year power purchase agreement that enabled the restart of Unit One at Three Mile Island, and Google has signed an agreement to buy energy from multiple small modular reactors (a global first) with possible operation by 2030.
Background and additional details: The piece lists evidence and timelines: data-centre demand rose by more than three quarters between 2023 and 2024, and is expected to account for over 20% of electricity-demand growth in advanced economies by 2030; the US is specifically noted for predicted AI-driven power consumption surpassing combined aluminium, steel, cement and chemical sectors by the end of the decade. It also notes SMRs have shorter deployment footprints and upgraded safety systems versus large reactors (large plants often have ~10-year lead times), and that the IAEA is working with regulators and industry to accelerate SMR viability.

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