PPL Archbald data center power plants
PPL completed a land deal in Archbald to pave the way for massive data center power plants. It is reported; the record holds no sourced date for when it reached that stage.
How much power it needs, how much water it would use and who would use it have not been disclosed.
How to read this page. Every fact links to the source it rests on; a number in brackets is its place in the source list. A figure no source gives reads Not disclosed, and nothing is estimated. Where sources give different figures, each is shown with who gave it, and another source's figure never stands in for the record's own. Entries are added and never overwritten; corrections are listed under What happened.
What is known
Each figure as its source gave it. The number in brackets is its place in the source list.
- Land
- 500 acres
- third party estimate [1]
- Power it would draw
- Not disclosed
- Water
- Not disclosed
- Who leads it
- PPL
- as stated by the source
- Who would use it
- Not disclosed
- Jobs once it runs
- Not disclosed
- Tax each year
- Not disclosed
- Where its power comes from
- potential power plants for data centers
- as stated by the source [1]
Every field, with who said it and when (Researcher view)
Impact figures
| Field | Value | Who says so | Source | Last verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How much power it needs | Not disclosed | |||
| How much water it would use | Not disclosed | |||
| How loud it would be | Not disclosed | |||
| Jobs once it runs | Not disclosed | |||
| Tax it would pay each year | Not disclosed |
The record's fields
| Field | Value | Who says so | Source | Last verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who is building it | PPL | as stated by the source | September 25, 2026 | |
| Who is constructing it | Not disclosed | |||
| How much land | 500 acres | third party estimate | [1] finance.yahoo.com | September 25, 2026 |
| Where its power comes from | potential power plants for data centers | as stated by the source | [1] finance.yahoo.com | September 25, 2026 |
| Grid connection | Not disclosed | |||
| How it is cooled | Not disclosed |
The developer's figure is what the company said; what a permit allows is the ceiling a permit sets; measured means observed. Water is in gallons a day or a year, whichever the source stated; a tax claim given as a range shows both ends, each linked to the source that gave it.
Still not public, and where it would show up
The record adds each the day a source gives it. Why these documents.
- Water useA state water right filing or a water supply agreement.
- Who would use itA lease announcement or a tenant named in a filing.
- Power the campus would drawA utility or public service commission docket, an interconnection filing, or an air permit for an on site plant.
- Jobs and taxAn incentive agreement, a county's economic development filing or a fiscal note.
What was decided
Acts of Lackawanna County and Archbald about data centers, on the record with their source. A rule about the area is not a decision about this record.
| Date | Who | Decision | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lackawanna County | Lackawanna County Commissioners approved contract for AI data center health impact study | paenvironmentdaily.blogspot.com | |
| Lackawanna County | Lackawanna County is conducting an air quality and public health impact assessment study for data center and power plant development. | thetimes-tribune.com |
What happened
No dated entry is on the record yet.
3 corrections to this record
Every correction, with its reason
-
· the speaker role of a statements row
Speaker read again from the statement's source line, "Governor Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania": the title in front of the name (Governor) is the role, not part of the name. The old and new text.
-
· the speaker of a statements row
Speaker read again from the statement's source line, "Governor Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania": the title in front of the name (Governor) is the role, not part of the name. The old and new text.
-
· the kind of source of a history entry
The source was labeled with the Google News search that found it; it now carries its outlet's tier (the record's rules of 2026-09-23). The link did not change. The day's label corrections.
Every correction on the record is on the corrections page.
What was said
Governor Josh Shapiro mentioned his visit to Archbald ahead of signing an executive order reining in large scale data center development
Every statement about data centers in Pennsylvania, by speaker
The site
Where in Lackawanna County is not in the public record. The pin marks the county seat, not a building, and the outline is the county.
Tap a pin for the data center, the parcel for its record
- This record: Proposed, ringed
- data center
- Dashed edge: the exact site is not in the public record
- Smaller pins: 19 other published records in Pennsylvania
Details
- this record's location, ringed
- parcel outline, from the county parcel record
- city limits, U.S. Census Bureau, on a town level record
- county boundary
The other pins are the published projects in the same state, each in its stage color. The imagery beneath is the USGS national orthoimagery, public domain, shown so the land around the site can be read.
- Where
- Archbald, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania
- How exactly it is located
- County level, the county seat
- The parcel
- No parcel outline in the public record
- Nearest homes
- Not computed for a record placed at a place center
- Nearest records
- Nearest records are not computed for a record placed at a county seat.
Questions about this project
5 questions answered from the record
How big is PPL Archbald data center power plants?
-
The record has one measure of its size: 500 acres (third party estimate, source). Its power capacity is not disclosed.
Who is building PPL Archbald data center power plants?
-
PPL is the developer. No construction contractor is named on the record yet.
How much power and water does PPL Archbald data center power plants say it needs?
-
Power: not disclosed by any source on file. Water: not disclosed by any source on file.
Where does PPL Archbald data center power plants stand today?
-
It is reported; the date it reached that stage is not sourced, only the day a page was read. No dated entry is on the record yet.
What has Archbald or Lackawanna County decided about it?
-
Lackawanna County (rated case by case): Lackawanna County Commissioners approved contract for AI data center health impact study (reported September 17, 2026, source); and Lackawanna County: Lackawanna County is conducting an air quality and public health impact assessment study for data center and power plant development. (reported September 6, 2026, source). 2 events are on the county's rows; a rule about the area is not a decision about this record.
Sources
Reporting
- PPL (PPL) And Blackstone Buy 500 Acres For Potential Data Center Power Plants, finance.yahoo.com, August 17, 2026, local outlet
- Lackawanna County Commissioners hire firm to study environmental and health impacts of data centers and power plants, www.wvia.org, September 16, 2026, local outlet
- PPL land deal in Archbald, Upvalley paves way for massive data center power plants [Updated] - Scranton Times-Tribune, Scranton Times-Tribune, August 30, 2026, local outlet
3 sources on file.
Cite this record
Data Center Record, "PPL Archbald data center power plants", https://datacenterrecord.org/projects/ppl-archbald-data-center-power-plants-pa, last verified September 25, 2026.
Cite this page
Data Center Record, "PPL Archbald data center power plants", https://datacenterrecord.org/projects/ppl-archbald-data-center-power-plants-pa. Data: Data Center Record, datacenterrecord.org, CC BY 4.0.
The structured rows are CC BY 4.0. Link to this page; that is what turns a reuse into a citation. Prose stays under copyright.
For researchers
- Slug
- ppl-archbald-data-center-power-plants-pa
- Status value
- rumored
- Stage
- Proposed
- Tier
- skeleton
- Tags
- skeleton
- Place id
- us/pa/lackawanna-county/archbald
- Coordinates
- 41.40897, -75.66241
- Location precision
- county
- Location source
- County seat (Scranton), Wikidata, placed at county level
- Coordinate source
- wikidata county seat
- Location source number
- Not disclosed
- Location last verified
- September 16, 2026
- EPA registry id
- Not disclosed
- Use type values
- not_disclosed
- Tenancy value
- not_disclosed
- Cooling type value
- not_disclosed
- Capacity basis
- not_disclosed
- Water basis
- not_disclosed, gallons_per_day
- Acreage basis
- third_party_estimate
- Interconnection value
- not_disclosed
- Capacity, if disclosed
- Not disclosed
- Rating of the county's rows
- Case by case
- Published
- 2026-09-04
- Last verified
- 2026-09-25