Amazon Web Services (AWS) has submitted plans for a major data centre campus covering 1,100 acres in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, as the cloud computing company continues to expand its infrastructure in the United States. The proposed Homer City Energy Campus will include 36 buildings dedicated to data centre operations and is expected to create 1,500 to 2,000 jobs.
A new 4.5-gigawatt natural gas power plant will support the campus development. The project represents a significant change for the site, which previously housed Pennsylvania’s largest coal-fired power station. AWS expects the new facilities to support growing computing needs while creating jobs and investment opportunities for surrounding communities.
The company estimates that average annual salaries for jobs created by the development will range from US$80,000 to US$100,000. However, the project will take several years to complete, with construction planned in multiple stages extending into the next decade. Its scale, energy requirements, and potential economic effects make it one of the region’s major proposed data centre developments.
Homer City campus will feature 36 data centre buildings
The proposed Homer City Energy Campus will occupy six separate areas across Centre and Blacklick townships, approximately 50 miles east of Pittsburgh. The development will consist of 36 data centre buildings, each with two floors, a height of around 70 feet, and about 225,000 square feet of floor space.
Beyond the main computing facilities, the plans include offices, storage buildings, electrical substations, security infrastructure, and additional power-generation equipment. These supporting facilities will provide the infrastructure required to operate a large-scale data centre campus, which needs substantial electricity and dedicated systems to maintain reliable computing services.
Construction is expected to proceed through four stages. The first phase is scheduled to begin in December 2026, while the final phase is expected to start in January 2032. The entire campus is currently planned for completion by June 2036, meaning development and construction could continue for almost a decade.
The long construction timeline reflects the project’s scale and the infrastructure needed to support its operations. Each stage will contribute to the wider campus. However, the available plans do not establish when individual buildings will become operational or how quickly the site will reach its intended computing capacity.
AWS expects the development to create 1,500 to 2,000 jobs, with projected average annual salaries of US$80,000 to US$100,000. These employment opportunities could bring additional economic activity to Indiana County. However, the overall impact will depend on how the project progresses and how many positions are created during construction and ongoing operations.
The company has also committed to a community benefits agreement intended to address the development’s local effects and provide measurable benefits to residents. Such commitments matter most for large infrastructure projects, which can affect local services, land use, employment, and energy demand.
Natural gas plant will provide most of the campus’s electricity
The Homer City Energy Campus is expected to rely primarily on a new 4.5GW natural gas power plant being developed by Homer City Redevelopment. The generation facility is being planned alongside the data centre project to provide the substantial electricity supply required by AWS’s computing infrastructure.
Most of the plant’s electricity is expected to serve the data centre campus. However, more than 1GW of generation capacity is also expected to supply Pennsylvania’s electricity network, potentially contributing additional power to the wider grid.
The proposed energy infrastructure will replace the site’s previous role in coal-fired electricity generation. Homer City formerly housed a 2GW coal power station that began operating in 1969 and closed in 2023. It was Pennsylvania’s largest coal-fired power station, so the planned redevelopment would substantially change how the property is used.
The move from coal generation to natural gas reflects a change in the site’s energy infrastructure, but it does not make the development emissions-free. Natural gas combustion produces carbon dioxide, and the new facility’s environmental impact will depend on factors including its operating capacity, efficiency, and overall electricity production.
The campus’s electricity requirements also highlight the growing relationship between data centre development and power generation. Large facilities supporting cloud computing and other digital services require reliable electricity supplies, and developers increasingly need to account for the availability of generation capacity and the infrastructure required to deliver power.
Knighthead Capital Management is providing financing for AWS’s planned computing campus and related infrastructure. The project’s financial arrangements will help support the development of a large facility that combines data processing operations with a dedicated energy supply.
Amazon has also pledged approximately US$20 billion towards investments in Pennsylvania across several data centre developments currently under consideration. The commitment places Homer City within a broader regional investment strategy, although the amount is not described as funding exclusively for this campus.
AWS continues to expand its data centre network across Pennsylvania
The Homer City development forms part of AWS’s wider expansion across Pennsylvania, where the company is pursuing multiple projects at different stages of planning and development. Rather than concentrating its investment in one location, the company is exploring sites that could provide additional capacity for its cloud computing operations.
In Salem Township, AWS acquired an existing data centre and approximately 1,200 acres of nearby land next to a nuclear power facility operated by Talen Energy. The company had pursued opportunities in the area since early 2024 and had considered developing as many as 15 buildings there.
Separate data centre proposals have also emerged in Falls and Kline townships. Together, these developments demonstrate the scale of AWS’s interest in Pennsylvania as it seeks to expand its computing infrastructure and secure the resources needed to operate it.
The company’s approach also comes amid changes to how it communicates with communities about its data centre projects. AWS recently said it would stop requiring non-disclosure agreements for these developments, a move intended to increase transparency about proposed projects and their potential local effects.
In addition, Amazon committed another US$1 billion towards community investments nationwide. This funding commitment is separate from the approximately US$20 billion in Pennsylvania investments announced across potential data centre developments, and the two figures represent different investment pledges.
The Homer City campus could become a significant part of AWS’s regional infrastructure if it proceeds according to the current schedule. Its 36 buildings, dedicated power-generation facility, and projected employment opportunities would make it a major undertaking for Indiana County.
However, the project remains a long-term development, with completion not expected until June 2036. Its eventual impact will depend on construction progress, energy infrastructure delivery and the implementation of commitments made to local communities. As AWS expands across Pennsylvania, Homer City illustrates how cloud computing growth is driving demand for both large data centre campuses and the power facilities that support them.
