The volume of major power projects announced to meet the growing AI data center demand lies somewhere between under development, close to a FID, or breaking dirt. A year ago this month, Reese Energy Consulting shared the story of a coal-fired power plant in the small rural community of Homer City, Pa.

Once the state’s largest and last of its kind, the aging and ailing Homer City Generating Station shut down abruptly in 2023. Plant owners cited competition from cheap natural gas and the cost of EPA compliance as reasons for the closure. Plant workers clocked out then packed up. But a plan to replace it was soon to grow legs. Long ones.

Pa.’s Homer City Redevelopment project has officially put shovel to dirt on a new $10 billion, 4.5 GW gas-fueled power plant on the same legacy site to support a 3,200-acre data center campus. State officials in 2025 announced the new Homer City power plant would become the nation’s largest gas-fired generating station.

But a lot can change in a year and what can top the nation’s largest other than the world’s largest? We are competitive creatures after all.

The Softbank/Ohio project has eyes on that prize with plans for a 10 GW AI data center powered by a 9.2 GW natural gas plant. The Meta/Hyperion project in La., now being funded, consists of seven new natural gas power plants to expand Hyperion’s total campus capacity beyond 7 GW.

The U.S. now leads in new gas-fired power development with more than one-third of capacity dedicated for on-site data center use. Homer City’s new plant is slated for production in 2027.