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Alpha Compute to buy Pennsylvania land, gas rights for $55 million data center campus, company says
The project could expand to 1 gigawatt and will use on-site Marcellus gas to power its planned campus, Alpha Compute said.
On Tuesday, AI infrastructure company Alpha Compute signed a binding term sheet to acquire land and natural gas rights in Pennsylvania for $55 million to develop a 200-megawatt data center campus.
Pennsylvania has become a sought-after location for new data centers due to its Marcellus shale gas and existing power infrastructure, prompting PPL Corp.'s joint venture with Blackstone Infrastructure, Invitium Energy, to build generation capacity.
PPL has secured sites that could support up to 14 GW of new generation, while Gov. Josh Shapiro announced a separate $20 billion Amazon investment for AI data center infrastructure across Pennsylvania in June.
Public opposition is rising, with a Quinnipiac University poll finding 74% of Pennsylvania voters oppose local data center construction; lawmakers have introduced at least 30 bills during the current session to regulate or accelerate development.
The state budget deal reached in July now requires data centers with electric outputs larger than 10 megawatts to report annual energy and water usage, signaling legislative efforts to balance growth with community oversight.