Pennsylvania Data Center Intel

Recent Pennsylvania data center news

• Apr 8, 2026

  ICYMI: Mission First, AI Forward

  Dell Technologies announced initiatives to help federal agencies, research institutions, and communities move AI from pilot to production by supplying mission-ready infrastructure, partnerships, and secure solutions.

  • Main announcement: Dell is partnering with U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Navy / Naval Postgraduate School, NVIDIA, and research centers to deliver mission-ready AI infrastructure, including the delivery of Cech — a Dell-powered early-access system for NERSC ahead of full deployment later this year, shipment of a desktop with NVIDIA GB300 technology, and co-engineering an air-gapped solution for classified environments. Michael Dell’s participation in the Dell Federal Symposium and his appointment to PCAST were highlighted as part of federal engagement.
  • Background and other details: Activities span events and programs: Dell Federal Symposium (Washington, D.C.) promoting practical, secure AI; NVIDIA GTC debut of GB300 desktop and air-gapped solution; RSA 2026 announcements on quantum-ready security; community efforts include TCU university AI environment, a United Way Institute launch in North Texas with an AI Day of Learning on April 20 (North Texas), and a Power Up Philly AI Discovery Zone at Temple University. External recognitions cited include Ethisphere, Forbes, Fast Company, and Nextgov/FCW.
• Apr 7, 2026

  Will the Dickerson data center project impact MoCo’s environment?

  Atmosphere Data Centers and Terra Energy propose a large data center campus at the former Dickerson power plant site in Montgomery County, Maryland.

  • Project announcement and status: Atmosphere Data Centers (developer) and Terra Energy (site owner) are proposing a 110-acre data center campus with a planned capacity of 360 megawatts; Terra Energy filed an initial application in December 2023, so this article reports on an ongoing proposal rather than a first-time announcement. The campus would connect to the grid via FirstEnergy transmission lines and requires new on-site infrastructure (substation, switchyard).
  • Key technical and regulatory details: Atmosphere says the campus would use an average 69,300 gallons/day for cooling with a proposed maximum daily allowance of 500,000 gallons; the company plans diesel generators with emissions controls for backup (selective catalytic reduction and diesel particulate filters). Atmosphere has submitted water withdrawal and discharge permit applications to the Maryland Department of the Environment, while local activists and county officials are urging a 100% renewable energy commitment and greater transparency on water use. County climate targets cited: 80% emissions reduction by 2027 and 100% by 2035.
• Apr 7, 2026

  Renewable Energy Update 4.3.26

  Allen Matkins published a Renewable Energy Update summarizing recent renewable energy and data‑centre developments.

  • Main update: The newsletter highlights Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration proposing to end the Demand Side Grid Support (DSGS) program; Altus Power has completed and activated rooftop solar at the 1.1 million‑square‑foot Class‑A San Manuel Landing in San Bernardino; Dimension Energy secured $650 million to finance a 132 MW portfolio of community solar (25 projects) across Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois; Townsite Solar 2 LLC proposed a 150–170 MW high‑density AI data center campus co‑located with battery and solar on 88.5 acres of city‑owned land in Boulder, Nevada; and NYPA will help develop the 5 MW Hannacroix Solar project in Greene County, NY.
  • Background / other details: The update notes a petition by three environmental groups seeking rehearing of California’s NEM 3.0 rooftop solar rules; the DSGS program budget decision is tied to the state budget finalization by Aug. 31; Solarcycle signed an exclusive “recycling services” agreement with Prologis to recycle PV modules from Prologis’s >1 GW of rooftop solar capacity; and the EcoBlock project in Oakland retrofitted 15 properties with rooftop solar, heat pumps, and insulation.
• Apr 7, 2026

  Helping data centers deliver higher performance with less hardware

  MIT researchers have developed Sandook, a software system to boost performance and utilization of pooled SSDs in data centers.

  • Main announcement:Sandook is a two-tier, software-only system (a global controller + local SSD controllers) that simultaneously addresses three sources of SSD variability—device wear/age, read-write interference, and garbage collection—and was tested on a pool of 10 SSDs, improving application throughput by 12–94%, increasing SSD capacity utilization by 23%, and enabling SSDs to reach 95% of theoretical maximum performance. The work will be presented at the USENIX Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation.
  • Background & details: Sandook rotates read/write assignments, profiles SSD performance to detect garbage collection and reduce load on affected drives, requires no specialized hardware or application changes, and was evaluated on four tasks (database, machine-learning model training, image compression, user data storage). Authors include Gohar Chaudhry (lead author), Ankit Bhardwaj (Tufts University), Zhenyuan Ruan PhD ’24, and Adam Belay (MIT CSAIL). Funding came from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the Semiconductor Research Corporation.
• Apr 3, 2026

  Event in Pa. will help people facing data centers in their communities

  Community Action Works is hosting a free, day‑long community organizing summit on data centers on April 18 at the Cooper‑Siegel Community Library in O’Hara Township, Allegheny County.

  • Event details & purpose: The summit is a free, day‑long conference on April 18 (Cooper‑Siegel Community Library, O’Hara Township, Allegheny County) bringing together community leaders, nonprofit organizations, student leaders, and community members to learn about emerging data center impacts, share organizing strategies, and receive training on permitting/zoning, mapping/tracking proposals, campaign planning, and storytelling. The event webpage: https://communityactionworks.org/swpa-community-organizing-summit-2026/?utm_source=Environmental+Health+Project&utm_campaign=e181bec3d3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_+oct_2025_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_11acb79c3a-e181bec3d3-452309381
  • Context & details from interview: Dozens of new data center proposals in Pennsylvania have prompted concerns including air pollution from diesel generators, noise (sites measured as high as 93 decibels), and water use (some data centers may consume as much as 5 million gallons of water per day). Community Action Works (founded 1987) has trained over 20,000 community members and is applying organizing lessons from other states (examples cited: Georgia cryptomines, Mountain City, Tennessee).
• Apr 3, 2026

  Fast-tracking nuclear facilities raises worker safety concerns

  The U.S. Department of Energy has eliminated the ALARA radiation exposure directive in a January 9 memo by Secretary Chris Wright.

  • Main action:DOE eliminated the ALARA directive (Jan 9 memo by Secretary Chris Wright), citing a “flawed risk calculus” and referencing a 2025 Idaho National Laboratory finding; action is tied to President Trump’s 2025 executive order to speed nuclear development and is intended to reduce regulatory burdens while keeping statutory exposure limits set by DOE/NRC in place. The memo states ALARA imposes “excessive economic and operational burdens without corresponding health benefits.” Potential immediate effects described in the article include less concrete shielding and longer worker shifts, per quoted experts.
  • Background and detail: The article documents that ALARA was introduced in the late 1970s and codified by DOE in 1993, notes critics including Kathryn Huff, Bradley Clawson, and Edwin Lyman, and records industry context: hyperscalers (Amazon, Meta, Google) backing small modular reactors, with Amazon saying it invested more than $1 billion in nuclear projects in the last year. DOE told NPR the moves “will increase innovation in the industry without jeopardizing safety.”
• Apr 3, 2026

  Episode for April 3, 2026

  The Allegheny Front released a podcast episode on April 3, 2026 covering air pollution and lung cancer alongside related environmental stories.

  • The episode focuses on a February report finding energy generated in Pennsylvania will power data centers both in-state and out-of-state, a new study attempting to separate smoking from lung cancer risk (with surprising results in areas with poor air quality), and includes an interview with the author of a birding guide.
    • Date: April 3, 2026
    • Duration: 29:49
    • Format/location: Podcast episode available online (audio mp3 and streaming platforms)
    • Agenda/subject: air pollution & lung cancer study; data center energy demand impacts on Pennsylvania; steel industry climate ranking; earlier allergy season; wildlife/fish kill report; birding guide interview
  • The episode also reports that Nippon Steel (U.S. Steel’s new owner) scored near the bottom in a climate ranking due to increased coal usage and a recent reinvestment in coal at a U.S. Steel plant in Indiana; other segments note a fish kill in Centre County (Pine Creek) documenting dead fish, crayfish, and frogs, and that allergy season is starting earlier due to changing temperature and precipitation patterns.
• Apr 2, 2026

  Panel discusses how energy demand from data centers nationwide will impact Pennsylvania

  The Clean Energy Group, Clean Air Council and Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania released a report titled “The High Cost of AI: How Data Centers are Reshaping Pennsylvania’s Energy Landscape.”

  • Main finding: The report finds Pennsylvania will export electricity to surrounding PJM states to meet growing data center demand, with PJM relying on Pennsylvania to supply energy to high-demand importers like Virginia (35% of hyperscale data centers); it projects an additional 24 to 44 million metric tons of CO2 by the end of the decade and an estimated $20 billion public health burden in 2028.
  • Background & local context: The report was discussed at a University of Scranton event with local officials and residents; Archbald has six proposed data center campuses under local opposition, the groups support Sen. Katie Muth’s three-year moratorium (co-sponsored by Sen. Rosemary Brown), and utilities such as PPL Electric Utilities perform system upgrade studies that can socialize costs across ratepayers.
• Apr 1, 2026

  Leadership Updates: Key Data Center & Cloud Appointments (Q2 2026)

  Data Center Knowledge has launched a new quarterly series highlighting leadership changes across the data center and cloud industries.

  • Main announcement: The roundup catalogs multiple executive appointments across operators and vendors, including Michael Lahoud named CEO of Stream Data Centers (after 15 years with the firm), Stream’s new hyperscale and sustainability hires (Stacy Medeiros, Santiago Suinaga, Oisín Ó Murchú, Rick Crutchley, Amanda Abell), John Bates named EVP of development and power at Prime Data Centers, Gary Wojtaszek appointed executive chairman and interim CEO of Pure Data Centres Group, and Vantage Data Centers’ appointments of Alicia Ruckteschler (CPO) and Scott Beasley (CFO).
  • Background and other details: The article lists additional vendor and advisory hires (e.g., Michael Maiello at Mission Critical Group; Doug Recker as CEO of Duos Technologies; Andrew Lake at Element Critical; Andrew Worley at Skeleton Technologies), cites Pure DC’s recent Europe’s first data center microgrid and >1 GW of capacity live/under development, references CyrusOne’s $15 billion acquisition by KKR and Global Infrastructure Partners, and notes DataBank’s board additions and the editorial contact editors@datacenterknowledge.com.
• Mar 31, 2026

  Cisco extends its Enterprise Agreement to include Nutanix Cloud Platform

  Cisco has extended its Enterprise Agreement to include the Nutanix Cloud Platform, adding Nutanix HCI to Cisco’s EA licensing and services program.

  • Main announcement: Cisco has officially extended its Enterprise Agreement (EA) to include Nutanix Cloud Platform (HCI), providing customers with predictable pricing, price protection for the EA term, and flexible, true-forward consumption (ability to increase Nutanix usage during the year and pay at the annual anniversary) without renegotiating contracts.
  • Background and implementation details: Cisco and Nutanix have had a multi-year partnership (Cisco ended development of HyperFlex in 2023 and handed HCI to Nutanix); the vendors deliver products such as Cisco Compute Hyperconverged with Nutanix (combining Cisco hardware and Nutanix Cloud Platform), tightened Intersight–Nutanix integrations, support for Nutanix GPT-in-a-Box, and e-bonded global support and remote cluster deployment capabilities (per World Wide Technology commentary).