PA Environment Digest Blog: Vistra Corp Buys 2 More PA Natural Gas Power Plants; Facebook/Meta Buys 20 Years Of Power From Beaver Valley Nuclear Plant; 18 PA Power Plants Now Locked Up To Feed A.I. Data Centers

The week of January 5, Vistra Corp announced it acquired Cogentrix Energy, including two Pennsylvania natural gas power plants, and Facebook/Meta announced a 20 year power purchase agreement with Vistra Corp and another firm to buy power from nuclear plants, including the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Plant in Beaver County.

The natural gas power plants include the 870 MW Patriot power plant in Lycoming County and the 870 MW Hamilton-Liberty power plant in Bradford County. [Read more here.]

Both deals are to support the energy needs of A.I. data centers.

Locking Up Power Plants

These purchases are part of a strategy by power plant owners and A.I. data center developers to lock up existing Pennsylvania power plants for the exclusive or nearly exclusive use of providing data centers energy, taking it away from “ordinary people.” Read more here.

With the agreements this week, power from 18 Pennsylvania power plants will be dedicated to feeding A.I. data centers--

-- 11 natural gas plants;

-- 3 nuclear power plants;

-- 2 hydroelectric facilities; and

-- 2 coal waste-fired power plants (at least).

Consumer advocates maintained that diverting energy from existing power plants to data centers could drive up energy prices without an answer for how rising power demand will be met for regular ratepayers.

The deals announced so far include--

-- Talen Energy’s Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant in Luzerne County for use by an Amazon data center;

-- Constellation Energy’s Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant restart for use by Microsoft data centers;

-- Facebook/Meta and Vistra Sign 20 Year Agreement For Nuclear Power for A.I. Data Centers From Plants In Ohio/PA, Including Beaver Valley Nuclear Plant. Read more here.

-- NRG bought five PA gas power plants with 2.4 Gigawatt capacity to help power data centers. Read more here.

-- Vistra Corp bought two PA gas power plants with 1.4 GigaWatt capacity to help power data centers in May 2025. Read more here.

-- Vistra Corp bought two more PA gas power plants-- 870 MW Patriot power plant in Lycoming County and the 870 MW Hamilton-Liberty power plant in Bradford County. Read more here.

-- Capital Power announced $3 billion over 10 years to upgrade and expand a gas facility in Shamokin Dam, PA. Read more here.

-- The Tenaska Natural Gas Power Plant in Westmoreland County is also positioned to supply energy to data centers. Read more here.

-- Bitfarms Ltd is buying Stronghold Digital Mining and Scrubgrass and Panther Creek coal waste power plants to help power data centers. Read more here.

-- Google announced a 20-year agreement to repower the Safe Harbor and Holtwood hydroelectric facilities on the Susquehanna River to feed data centers. Read more here.

We Need Every Electron

There is no doubt the soaring demand for energy from A.I. data centers is already bringing Pennsylvania’s electric grid perilously close to being unreliable, as the results of the December 17 PJM capacity auction show. Read more here.

"This auction leaves no doubt that data centers’ demand for electricity continues to far outstrip new supply, and the solution will require concerted action involving PJM, its stakeholders, state and federal partners, and the data center industry itself,” said Stu Bresler, PJM Executive Vice President – Market Services and Strategy, who becomes chief operating officer on Jan. 7. Read more here.

PUC Commissioner Kathryn Zerfuss described the perils in another context this way-- “So we all know that we have many challenges as it relates to energy supply and demand, and the gap between supply and demand is just growing more and more every day.

“We totally maintain that we have to take advantage of every single molecule and electron we can from all energy sources, whether it's solar, wind, for our electric grid.” Read more here.

Tom Rutigliano, Natural Resources Defense Council, said "Summer 2027 will be the first time in PJM’s history it expects to not have enough power to reliably meet demand because of new data center forecasts and the ongoing risk of fossil fuel [natural gas] generators failing during winter storms. Read more here.

(Photos: Hamilton-Liberty natural gas power plant; Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Plant.)

Resource Links:

-- PennFuture News: There Isn’t Enough Energy For You And A.I. Data Centers In The PJM Grid, So Who Gets It?

-- PJM Electricity Auction Prices Again At Cap Imposed By Gov. Shapiro’s Lawsuit Settlement, Without It Prices Would Be 59% Higher Driven By A.I. Data Center Demand; Grid Reliability Now Questioned [PaEN]

-- PA Energy, Environmental, Citizen Advocates Call On PUC To Protect Ratepayers, Communities From Costs, Impacts Of A.I. Data Centers [PaEN]

-- Data Center Stampede Trampling PA Ratepayers Part I: PA Utility Law Project - Utility Terminations Up 30% Already; Prioritize Existing Loads; Centers Need To Help Pay For Utility Assistance [PaEN]

-- Data Center Stampede Trampling PA Ratepayers Part II: PA Consumer Advocate - PUC Should Set Conditions For Centers To Be Served By The Grid; Set Power Curtailment Priorities [PaEN]

-- Data Center Stampede Trampling PA Ratepayers Part III: PJM Market Monitor - Data Centers Have Cost Existing Ratepayers $16.6 Billion Already; Centers Should Bring Their Own Power Generation To Prevent More Large Price Spikes [PaEN]

-- PJM Electric Auction Impacts: 1 In 5 PA Households Report Problems Now Paying Energy Bills; Electric Utility Shutoffs Up 38.1% So Far This Year [PaEN]

-- Spotlight PA: Map Shows Growing Number Of A.I. Data Centers Planned Across Pennsylvania

-- PA House Committee Approves Legislation Giving Local Officials Greater Say Over Regional-Scale Developments Like A.I. Data Centers, Warehouses [PaEN]

-- Sen. Boscola To Introduce 6-Bill Package To Protect Pennsylvania Communities And Ratepayers From Large-Scale A.I. Data Centers Rapidly Expanding Across The State [PaEN]