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New 10-year roadmap integrates AI, energy, and data center growth

Plan proposes up to five innovation corridors across Pennsylvania

Goals include modernizing the grid and adding 12 gigawatts of capacity

Effort unites business, labor, and government under Team Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania leaders have developed a 10-year roadmap to capitalize on the state’s energy resources, developments in artificial intelligence (AI), and the growing need for data centers, while calling for the creation of up to five “innovation corridors” that could include central Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley.

“Pennsylvania is at a pivotal crossroads in energy transformation, data center expansion, and AI,” according to the executive summary in the 2025 Pennsylvania Energy, Data Center and Artificial Intelligence Roadmap released Sept. 18. “These converging forces represent both an urgent challenge and an extraordinary opportunity for the commonwealth to lead, adapting to rapid change, and shaping its future.”

Created by Team Pennsylvania, a statewide nonprofit economic development organization, the roadmap calls for harnessing public and private resources to achieve six strategic goals, including the creation of innovation corridors that would further develop expertise from various regions in the state, such as Erie, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and State College, as well as central Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley.

Pittsburgh is known for its expertise in AI, robotics and advanced manufacturing, “while also building a burgeoning life sciences cluster connected to its health systems and research institutions,” the roadmap says.
Philadelphia is a leader in biotech, pharmaceuticals, and applied AI in life sciences, “positioning the city as one of the nation’s fastest growing health innovation hubs,” it also says.
The State College region has strengths in materials science, agriculture and energy research.
The northeast/Lehigh Valley, the northwest anchored by Erie and central Pennsylvania “bring resource-rich energy corridors and emerging tech manufacturing footprints,” it adds.

While each region has its strengths, innovation is uneven, the report says, with Pennsylvania ranking 15th in the Milken Institute’s 2022 State Technology and Science Index, the report notes.

“By intentionally developing regional innovation corridors, Pennsylvania can connect these complementary strengths–energy, AI, robotics and life sciences, while addressing gaps in talent and technology diffusion,” the roadmap says about the proposed designated Regional AI Activation Corridors. “By clustering and aligning investments across regions with a specific emphasis on AI adoption and R&D, these corridors can accelerate knowledge spillover, talent retention and commercialization.”

The corridor concept is intended to have the various public and private stakeholders in a region examine their needs and determine what they have to offer, maximizing the resources that are available in their areas, explains Lisa Riggs, Team Pennsylvania’s senior managing director, economic growth strategy and partnerships.

For example, central Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley have numerous power sources, and there has been much discussion about developing data centers.

“There is no shortage of municipalities that are dealing with these issues,” Riggs says, which means that neighboring municipalities and counties are all having similar conversations. “There is not a sense of having connective tissue. Thinking about it long term, there needs to be a data center infrastructure, it needs to align with the power grid and power resources, and we want to make sure that there’s the right workforce in place.”

The roadmap is intended to direct those discussions, she adds.

“What makes sense within a county or within a region?” Riggs says. “Are there common issues in the space of AI, data centers, and energy that could allow for connective tissue across a region?”

Key metrics for success of corridors would include the number of new jobs in AI, as well as the automation and advanced technology created within the corridors, paired with medium wage growth compared to statewide averages, the roadmap says.

Other strategic goals

The other strategic goals call for:

Leading the nation in technology commercialization.
Using Pennsylvania companies to supply the materials needed for data centers and improvements to electricity infrastructure.
Transforming the energy system through AI.
Adding up to 12 gigawatts to the state’s energy grid to handle the increased load of data centers and advanced manufacturing.
And modernizing the electric grid and permitting process.

The roadmap calls for the vision and strategic goals to be completed by 2035, according to Team Pennsylvania that will act as a “convener and catalyst” in the efforts.

“We invite leaders from business, labor, academia, government, and nonprofit organizations to engage with the framework, challenge assumptions, and identify the next steps we can take together,” the roadmap says. “By doing so, we position the commonwealth not just to adapt to the AI era, but to help define it, ensuring that innovation, energy leadership, and broad-based prosperity move forward in concert.”

Stakeholders need to act now because of the fast pace of change brought on by AI, it also says.

The state can assist by streamlining approvals to accelerate projects, aligning training programs with emerging industry needs and offering incentives such as tax credits, the roadmap says. Such assistance could help overcome various challenges that the report also lays out, such as how data centers might affect consumers and communities.

“While the roadmap lays out a clear path for Pennsylvania to strengthen its competitiveness in energy, data centers, and AI, there is also a set of complex and interconnected issues that can accelerate progress, slow it down, or reshape outcomes entirely,” the roadmap says. “These are the ‘important dynamics and considerations.’ For many stakeholders, these issues are the ones that most directly shape their decisions and priorities.”

For example, one key to success will require improvements to the energy infrastructure, with Pennsylvania taking advantage of its lead in energy production from natural gas, nuclear and coal sources, the report says. The roadmap recognizes various challenges, such as including nuclear energy in the “all-of-the above” energy strategy.

“Nuclear projects require high upfront capital investment, long permitting timelines, and continued attention on safe waste management,” it says.

Supply and demand

Jason T. Hunt, PPL’s manager, business and economic development, notes that the demand for energy is not expected to keep up with supply, with PPL alone having about 4.8 gigawatts worth of announced data center projects in its service territory and an additional 14 undersigned agreement. PPL distributes electricity to the homes and businesses in its service territory but does not generate electricity

“From PPL’s perspective, there is a need for collective action at the state level to ensure that this mismatch of demand and supply doesn’t threaten our opportunity to pursue economic growth and doesn’t hurt customers in their pocketbooks,” Hunt says. “…Demand is rising sharply. Supplies are stagnant. We don’t need a PhD in economics to know what that would do to prices.”

Concern about rising electricity costs for consumers was highlighted in legislation introduced on Sept. 24 by Sen. Lindsey M. Williams (D-Allegheny). Williams says the legislation would help protect Pennsylvania utility customers from higher electricity costs caused by data centers by requiring data centers to contribute to Pennsylvania’s customer assistance programs and ensuring data centers pay for upgrades to the electricity transmission grid.

“Our families should not be paying more for their electricity because enormous data centers might move into our neighborhoods—and they certainly should not be subsidizing electricity costs for giant corporations,” Willaims says in news release.

Next Steps

The roadmap says that near-term goals include sharing information among state and local entities and accelerating permitting and site readiness, while conducting a statewide assessment of the need for talent in construction, operations and management across the AI, data, and energy sectors. Top occupations that will be needed include electricians, HVAC specialists, people in the construction trades, data center operators, and AI and cybersecurity engineers.

By the end of this year, the goal is to build a statewide inventory of potential sites for redevelopment/reinvestment.

Abby Smith, Team Pennsylvania’s president and CEO, says the effort is garnering bipartisan support, including from Republican U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick and Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, who is Team Pennsylvania’s co-chair. (Tiffany Wilson, president and CEO of Philadelphia-based Science Center, also is co-chair).

Other states have been rolling out plans for data centers or different technology and energy initiatives, Smith says. But Pennsylvania’s approach attempts to combine plans for energy, new technologies and data centers in an overall effort that could benefit both rural and urban communities.

“The idea that we can marry these things, this is where the economic multiplier is really significant,” she says. “What do we want to see a decade from now in Pennsylvania? What is the health of our economy going to look like?”

“This is something that, whether Republican or Democrat, it’s about capturing the broader opportunity,” she adds.

Thomas A. Barstow is a freelance writer