PPL Corporation and Blackstone Infrastructure spent more than $40 million to buy 500-plus acres in Jenkins, Plains and Salem townships for possible power plants to fuel data centers, a PPL spokesman said Thursday.

“Our joint venture with Blackstone acquired land in Jenkins and Salem townships as we’re evaluating opportunities to meet rising demand for electricity in Pennsylvania,” said Ryan Hill of PPL Corporation, who emphasized they are in the early stages of evaluation. “We haven’t made any final decisions to proceed with generation projects.”

Hill pointed to the scale of data center growth driving demand for electricity, as well as power plants retiring.

“We’re in a time right now where demand is rising, and there’s a need for new generation to be built,” he said. “We are proposing solutions like this to help address that need.”

PPL and Blackstone spent $27.75 million to acquire 400-plus acres in Jenkins and Plains townships on land between Interstate 81 and Westminster Road, according to a property transaction recorded April 16 and Luzerne County Assessor’s Office data.

The venture also purchased 140-plus acres in Salem Twp. for $12.66 million on land bounded by two power plants, according to another transaction recorded the same day and assessor’s data.

The Salem Twp. site is between the Moxie Freedom natural gas power plant to its north and the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station nuclear power plant to its south.

Talen Energy owns both plants after acquiring the Moxie Freedom facility last year as part of a $3.5 billion acquisition. Amazon bought Talen Energy’s Cumulus data center adjacent to the nuclear power plant in March 2024 for $650 million, with plans for a data center campus of 15 or more buildings at the site.

PPL and Blackstone acquired the properties under Phoenix PA Land Holdings LLC.

Phoenix PA Land Holdings organized March 7, 2025, using PPL Corporation’s address at 645 Hamilton St., Allentown, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State.

Executives from PPL Corporation, the parent company of local electricity provider PPL Electric Utilities, comprise Phoenix PA Land Holdings’ officers and governors; PPL Executive Vice President and CFO Joseph B. Bergstein Jr. is listed as the holding company’s president.

Phoenix PA Land Holdings purchased the Jenkins and Plains townships land from BPJI LP, 403 Coal St., Wilkes-Barre. It acquired the Salem Twp. property from James and Michele Benkinney.

PPL Corporation and Blackstone Infrastructure announced the joint venture in July 2025 to build natural gas power plants in Pennsylvania to support data center development. PPL owns 51% of the venture; Blackstone owns 49%.

Hill emphasized that the venture does not involve PPL Electric Utilities. The $40.4 million came through PPL Corporation and Blackstone, he said.

“PPL Electric Utilities customers are not funding these activities,” he said.

There are no timelines associated with the projects, Hill said. The first step is to contract with a data center or large customer to buy the power, he said.

“We’ve been pretty clear that we’re not going to proceed with any generation projects without having a large customer,” Hill said.

The amount of electricity generated at either site would depend on customer needs, he said.

The customer does not have to be adjacent to or co-located at either site, Hill said. The power plants would connect to the grid, rather than directly to a data center, he said.

Work so far has consisted of site evaluations and due diligence, he said.

“If there’s a project that would move forward, the joint venture is committed to engaging transparently with the local officials, stakeholders, the community, with a clear focus on delivering reliability, affordability and local benefits,” Hill said. “But again, early stages, just evaluating land opportunities at this time.”

Check back for updates.