Homer City's 4.4 GW Gas Campus Races Ahead While Its Air Permit Sits in Court

The site of what was Pennsylvania's largest coal-fired power plant is now one of the busiest construction projects in the country. Homer City Generation said on September 4 that more than 1,800 tradespeople are working on the Homer City Energy Campus, nearly double the 1,000 it reported in March. It expects about 2,000 by the end of the year. The project is the most ambitious attempt yet to build a gas-fired power plant expressly to serve AI data centers.

It is also a test of how far such a plant can get while its air permit is still being challenged. Homer City Redevelopment and contractor Kiewit Power Constructors unveiled the project on April 2, 2025. The former Homer City Generating Station, which began operating in 1969 and was permanently decommissioned on July 1, 2023, is being turned into a natural gas-powered data center campus of more than 3,200 acres. The developers said the campus would deliver up to 4.5 GW to support hyperscale data centers, and that its emissions per megawatt-hour would be 60% to 65% lower than the coal plant's.

"This project demonstrates the best in what investing in power can do; more affordable and reliable energy for everyone," GE Vernova chief executive Scott Strazik said at the launch. "As we begin vertical construction, today's milestone sets us on schedule," said Corey Hessen, chief executive of Homer City Redevelopment. The September workforce update said about 95% of the craft workers are local and more than 135 are apprentices, with nine trade unions on site. "We will not stand by idly while our government greenlights a devastating and illegal toxic data center power plant," said Clean Air Council executive director Alex Bomstein. Building while a permit is under appeal is legal but carries risk. Homer City shows the scale at which gas is being built for AI.