Essential Utilities to invest $26M in Western Pennsylvania data center

Essential Utilities (WTRG) announced an agreement with International Electric Power III. to become an investor in a 1,400 acre, data center facility in Greene County, Pennsylvania. Based on the agreement, Essential Utilities, through its subsidiary Aqua, plans to design, build, and operate an 18 million gallons per day water treatment plant to service the power plant and data center. Using raw water from the adjacent Monongahela River, the water plant will support both power generation and data center cooling needs, leveraging Essential’s deep expertise in water infrastructure and environmental stewardship. In addition, Essential’s subsidiary Peoples, the largest natural gas utility in Pennsylvania, will provide gas consulting services and energy management services to the project. The data center will be powered by 944 MW of behind-the-meter, natural gas combined cycle combustion turbines, supplemented by battery storage, and backed up from an existing interconnection with the electric grid.