Aligned Data Centers Breaks Ground on 2 GW 'Project Phoenix' Campus in Shippingport, Pennsylvania
Aligned Data Centers broke ground Sept. 10 on Project Phoenix, a three-facility, 2-gigawatt data center campus in Shippingport, Pennsylvania that the company says will anchor approximately $10 billion in regional economic investment and transform a dormant industrial energy site into a digital infrastructure hub for Western Pennsylvania.
The campus, located within the Shippingport Industrial Park in Beaver County and adjacent to the former Bruce Mansfield coal-fired power plant along the Ohio River, spans an estimated 2 million square feet across three buildings. It represents one of the largest data center developments announced in the United States by planned power capacity.
"Project Phoenix represents the future of responsible data center development," said Andrew Schaap, CEO of Aligned Data Centers. "The project is a legacy reimagined that transforms a dormant industrial site into a foundational asset for the local community. Beyond delivering critical infrastructure for our customers, this investment establishes a powerful new economic hub for Western Pennsylvania and creates long-term prosperity for local workers and the community."
Power Strategy Centers on Onsite Generation
A defining feature of Project Phoenix is its planned reliance on dedicated onsite power rather than the regional electric grid. The Shippingport Industrial Park sits adjacent to the Shippingport Power Station, a former coal plant being redeveloped into an advanced natural gas energy campus. Solid-oxide fuel cells supplied by natural gas are expected to serve as the primary generation technology for the campus, with Bloom Energy identified as the fuel-cell technology provider.
Aligned said the project, once completed, is expected to deliver substantial excess power capacity back to the grid, boosting supply for PJM Interconnection, the country's largest grid operator, and Pennsylvania consumers. The onsite generation approach directly addresses one of the central constraints facing large-scale data center development: securing reliable blocks of power in markets where grid interconnection queues and transmission limitations can delay projects.
The power strategy also positions the project within Pennsylvania's regulatory framework. The state's governor has established Responsible Infrastructure Development, or GRID, requirements that call on data center developers to address the cost of new generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure rather than shifting those costs to existing utility customers. The requirements apply enhanced review to facilities with peak demand above 25 megawatts — a threshold Project Phoenix's 2-gigawatt scale far exceeds.
Aligned said it supports the GRID standards and has signed the Ratepayer Protection Pledge. "We proudly support Governor Shapiro's GRID standards and are a signatory of the Ratepayer Protection Pledge," Schaap said. "We have always held ourselves to a higher bar because doing things the right way is simply who we are. We aren't just a responsible developer; we operate these facilities and stay in the communities we build, so the long-term success of our projects and communities is essential to our continued growth. Project Phoenix serves as a model for how advanced digital infrastructure can sustainably fuel regional economies."
Jobs, Economic Impact, and Construction Partners
Aligned projects that Project Phoenix will support 3,000 construction jobs and create more than 640 full-time careers for ongoing campus operations, along with thousands of indirect jobs throughout the local supply chain and regional economy. The campus is also expected to generate new annual government revenue for Beaver County.
Holder Construction and Kokosing are serving as construction partners on the project. Site operations and blasting activity were scheduled to begin Sept. 28.
"Project Phoenix represents a significant investment in the future of Western Pennsylvania and the region's digital infrastructure," said Beth Lowry, CEO of Holder Construction. "We're proud to partner with Aligned on this transformative project and help bring a world-class data center campus to the community. The project will create meaningful opportunities for local workers and businesses while supporting long-term economic growth across the region."
"Transforming a legacy industrial site into a next-generation data center campus requires vision and world-class execution," said Brett Burgett, CEO of Kokosing. "We are honored that Aligned has trusted Kokosing as a partner to bring Project Phoenix to life. Together, we are delivering sustainable, critical infrastructure while providing thousands of highly skilled tradespeople the opportunity to build the future of their own community."
Shippingport Mayor John Erickson framed the development in the context of the borough's long history as an energy-producing community. "For decades, Shippingport has been defined by powering the country as the birthplace of commercial nuclear energy," Erickson said. "Project Phoenix honors that legacy, opening a new chapter by taking a historic site and rebuilding it into a modern engine of innovation. By creating thousands of jobs and sustainable career pathways for the next generation, this is far more than an infrastructure project — it is a profound investment in our community's future."
Environmental Design and Green Building Certification
Aligned says each Project Phoenix facility is engineered to require zero water for operational cooling through an advanced closed-loop system that continuously recycles pure, deionized water. The company says the resulting water footprint is comparable to that of a standard commercial office building.
The company is pursuing Green Globes certification at Project Phoenix through the Green Building Initiative, a third-party rating system that evaluates resource efficiency and overall environmental impact. Aligned describes itself as among the highest-certifying data center developers in the Green Globes program.
By redeveloping a dormant industrial energy site rather than breaking ground on undeveloped land, Aligned and local officials have framed the project as an industrial conversion — one that replaces retired coal-generation activity with digital infrastructure while retaining an energy-intensive use on a site with established industrial access and existing infrastructure.
Market Context: AI Demand and Pennsylvania's Data Center Policy
Project Phoenix arrives as demand for large-scale digital infrastructure — driven in part by artificial intelligence workloads — has intensified competition for power-ready sites across the United States. A 2-gigawatt campus is unusually large by conventional data center standards, and Aligned described the development as serving robust regional demand for high-density digital infrastructure.
The project's scale and power sourcing strategy reflect broader industry dynamics: hyperscale and AI-oriented data center developers have increasingly pursued dedicated generation arrangements as grid interconnection queues lengthen and power availability becomes a primary site-selection constraint. Pennsylvania's GRID framework, adopted ahead of the Project Phoenix groundbreaking, represents a structured state-level policy response to those pressures, requiring developers to demonstrate that their projects will not impose infrastructure costs on existing ratepayers.
Aligned's decision to emphasize onsite generation, sign the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, and pursue third-party environmental certification positions Project Phoenix as a direct response to that policy environment.