(Reuters) – GE Vernova will aid in turning Homer City Generating Station — previously a coal-power plant in Pennsylvania — into a natural gas-powered data center campus by providing seven turbines to produce nearly 4.5 gigawatts (GW) of power.
The project is expected to begin producing power by 2027. Once complete, it would be the largest natural gas power plant in the U.S., surpassing NextEra Energy’s main utility, Florida Power & Light’s West County Energy Center, which has a capacity of nearly 3.8 GW, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
In a release on Wednesday from Homer City Redevelopment (HCR), which is in charge of the project, it said that construction of the site is expected to begin this year, and GE Vernova will supply the turbines by 2026.
Energy-intensive data centers needed to scale artificial intelligence technologies are expected to push up demand for gas turbines used in large-scale power generation projects.
U.S. natural gas use is set to continue hitting record highs due in part from this demand, but a lack of infrastructure could hurt the industry.
Knighthead Capital Management, which has had significant equity positions in Homer City for nearly eight years, will continue to lead the project financing, HCR added, with an initial capital investment being expected to exceed $10 billion for power infrastructure and site readiness.
(Reporting by Seher Dareen and Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
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