Aligned Data Centers has broken ground on Project Phoenix, a new 2GW data center campus in Shippingport, Pennsylvania. Located in Shippingport Industrial Park, the campus will comprise three facilities. It is next to the former Shippingport Power Station, which is being redeveloped into a natural gas energy campus. Aligned said the data center will use dedicated on-site power instead of the local grid.
“Project Phoenix represents the future of responsible data center development,” said Andrew Schaap, CEO of Aligned. “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.”
Shippingport Mayor John Erickson emphasized the project’s impact on the local community and workforce: “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.”
The Shippingport site was formerly home to the 2.49GW Bruce Mansfield coal plant, which operated from 1976 until 2019. Frontier Group acquired the site in 2022 and plans to develop a 2.7GW natural gas plant, with up to 3.6GW of behind-the-meter capacity. Aligned operates data center campuses in Illinois, Texas, Utah, Arizona, and Northern Virginia, with additional projects planned in Maryland, Ohio, Illinois, and Virginia. Macquarie Asset Management sold Aligned last year to a consortium of AI Infrastructure Partnership, MGX, and BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners for $40 billion.
