Pennsylvania’s Energy DominancePennsylvania is uniquely blessed with an abundance of the resources necessary to be a national and global leader in energy production.Pennsylvania is the top exporter of electricity nationwide, the second leading producer of natural gas (behind only Texas), and produces the third-most total energy out of all fifty states.Additionally, Pennsylvania is the second-leading producer of nuclear energy in the country, and is one of only twelve states to generate over 30 percent of its total electricity from nuclear power, giving us a competitive advantage in attracting data centers and next-generation technology. Why are Energy prices Rising?Pennsylvania is the nation’s top electricity exporter and a leading producer of baseload energy (like natural gas, coal, and refined petroleum). But despite our high rate of energy production, reliability is at risk, and electricity prices are rising.This is due in part to accelerated retirements of reliable baseload energy generation resources, which have outpaced the ability to bring new energy generation sources online.As Pennsylvania has failed to supply the reliable energy generation needed to meet demand, electricity prices have risen — a trend that started well before data centers.According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the average residential price in Pennsylvania rose 34 percent between 2022 and 2025, before more than $90 billion in investments in data centers and related technologies were announced. Increasing Baseload CapacityMany data center developers are funding new baseload generation (including from natural gas, nuclear, and hydrogen). These projects are entirely funded by private capital, not ratepayers, reducing congestion costs and ensuring that residents maintain access to accessible, affordable power.Examples include:The Homer City Energy Campus in Indiana County, a privately-funded redevelopment of a retired coal facility into a gas fired plant that will generate 4.4–4.5 GW, positioning it to be the largest gas fired plant in the U.S. Microsoft’s effort to restart a Three Mile Island nuclear reactor, providing approximately 835 MW of zerocarbon baseload for data center needs. TECfusion’s proposal to co-locate approximately 3 GW of on-site natural gas generation with a new campus in Westmoreland County that could dispatch excess power to the grid.Blackstone–PPL’s $25B infrastructure program pairing QTS data center builds with new natural gas power generation in Pennsylvania to ensure long duration, dispatchable supply for AI computing. Modernizing EfficiencySince 2010, data centers have become significantly more energy efficient. Each server now uses about four times less electricity for the same amount of computing work, thanks to better processors and less wasted power.Storing data is also far more efficient — nine times less energy per terabyte is required as storagedrives have improved. Fewer servers are needed overall because each one can handle five times moretasks through virtualization, and data centers themselves have cut down on wasted energy.These efficiency trends have resulted in a plateau in U.S. data center energy use, even while demand fordata centers has increased rapidly. Join UsThe Pennsylvania Energy & Innovation Institute is the leading platform for ideas, data, and innovation to intersect and generate a vibrant energy future for our Commonwealth.To learn more and get involved, contact Amy Brinton at abrinton@pachamber.org.