Project dossier · Cumberland County, Pennsylvania

PA Data Center Partners Cumberland County Under construction

$15B, 1.35 GW across 3 campuses in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.

Key facts

Operator: PA Data Center Partners
Size: 1,350 MW
Location: Cumberland County, Pennsylvania
Stage today: Under construction

What to do next

Next step: Under construction — pull the approved conditions and permits and hold the builder to them; an expansion or a new building reopens the record.

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What has happened so far (27 events)

2025-03-21filing
A draft comprehensive zoning ordinance submitted to the Cumberland County Planning Department by Middlesex Township attorney, ahead of the data center overlay process. · source
2025-04-25filing
Township attorney submits a standalone Data Center Overlay District Amendment; Cumberland County Planning Department issues its review report on the overlay map and text. · source
2025-05-30vote
Middlesex Township Board of Supervisors unanimously approves Ordinance No. 3-2025, creating a 694-715 acre Data Center Overlay District making hyperscale data centers a permitted by-right use, sharply limiting future public hearings. · source
2025-07-15announcement
PA Data Center Partners and PowerHouse Data Centers announce the $15 billion, 1.35 GW PAX-1 three-campus hyperscale complex on ~700 acres in Middlesex Township at the PA Energy and Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon, attended by President Trump. · source
2025-07-24financing
PA Data Center Partners/PowerHouse JV paid roughly $44 million to acquire the Middlesex Township land for the project. · source
2025-08-11filing
Middlesex Township Planning Commission discusses the PAX-1 Master Sketch Plan; no official action taken. · source
2025-08-25permit
Middlesex Township Planning Commission approves the PPL substation laydown-yard plan for the project, with conditions. · source
2025-09-03public-comment
Residents formally ask the Middlesex Township Board to reclassify data centers as conditional use rather than by-right; the board denies the request and approves a revised comprehensive zoning ordinance. · source
2025-09-09coverage
Developer holds a public outreach meeting for residents on the PAX-1 project. · source
2025-10-01utility
Middlesex Authority reports analysis finding roughly 910,000 gallons/day of unused peak water capacity, of which 400,000 gallons/day would be reserved for PAX-1, leaving over 500,000 gallons/day for other development. · source
2025-12-23filing
Middlesex Township Planning Commission votes to recommend approval of subdivision plans splitting the 693-acre tract into three data-center campuses plus a substation parcel. · source
2026-01-01utility
Water rights/allocation for the PAX-1 project formally secured with the Middlesex Authority. · source
2026-03-04vote
Middlesex Township Board unanimously approves construction of a 450 MW electrical substation; PPL Electric Utilities confirms it can meet the full 1.35 GW peak demand with planned upgrades. · source
2026-03-05construction
Construction resumes on the $15 billion PAX-1 project following the substation approval. · source
2026-04-01construction
Two weeks of scheduled underground construction blasting begin at the PAX-1 site, twice daily on weekdays; nearby Country Manor West residents report feeling and hearing the blasts. · source
2026-04-15coverage
State Rep. Joe Webster begins advocating for new state oversight of data center projects including legislation requiring water-usage disclosure, amid resident complaints about PAX-1 construction noise, blasting, and well-water impacts. · source
2026-04-20public-comment
A planned town hall on data centers with State Rep. Barb Gleim (R-Cumberland) is canceled after overwhelming resident interest exceeded the space; residents say it felt like officials did not want to hear their concerns. · source
2026-04-25public-comment
Cumberland County Planning Department issues a review report recommending Middlesex Township deny an expansion of the data center overlay district and update its outdated 2003 comprehensive plan before amending zoning further. · source
2026-04-29public-comment
Cumberland County Planning Commission, Dickinson College, and CAEDC host a virtual data-center informational session drawing 230 pre-registration questions and 118 live, reflecting intense public interest. · source
2026-06-25vote
Pennsylvania House votes 197-5 to pass HB 2198 repealing the Computer Data Center Equipment sales-tax incentive, projected to cost $188.4 million in FY2026-27 growing to $517 million by 2030. · source
2026-06-25vote
Pennsylvania Senate passes HB 1667 containing the same data center tax incentive repeal by a vote of 44-6. · source
2026-08-05hearing
Middlesex Township supervisors cancel a planned vote to approve final construction of a PAX-1 building after more than 150 residents pack the municipal building beyond capacity, creating a fire hazard; rescheduled to August 19 at a school gym. · source
2026-08-05protest
Cumberland County residents organized by Neighbors Against PAX-1 rally against the data center, arguing the developer helped write the zoning ordinance in a way that handcuffs the township ability to impose conditions. · source
2026-08-06lawsuit
Ten Middlesex residents (Neighbors Against PAX-1 / Stop PAX-1) file a substantive validity/spot-zoning legal challenge alleging the 2025 data center overlay ordinance was effectively written by PAX-1 developers and approved via illegal spot zoning. · source
2026-08-13lawsuit
Opponents file a separate appeal with the PA Environmental Hearing Board challenging a stormwater permit for the PAX-1 site, arguing it was written for a 58-house residential subdivision rather than a hyperscale data center. · source
2026-08-18incentive
Gov. Shapiro signs a statewide executive order restricting data center development: requiring local approval for state permits, removing data centers from fast-track permitting, mandating CBAs, binding environmental/transparency commitments, and that projects secure their own electricity supply. · source
2026-08-19hearing
Rescheduled Middlesex Township supervisors meeting on PAX-1 building approval postponed a second time (moved to September 2) after a township official suffers a medical episode during the meeting. · source

Find the paper trail

Find the paper trail (1 filed · 11 places to look)

Permits already on file (1)

Filings we have a source for — the record, not a place to look for one.

2025-08-25
Middlesex Township Planning Commission approves the PPL substation laydown-yard plan for the project, with conditions. · source

State environmental permits

Backup generators, water withdrawal and stormwater are permitted by the state, usually earlier and in more detail than anything filed locally.

Pennsylvania DEPThe program page: which permits this state requires, and the office that issues them.
DEP Data Center Permit Tracker (the only state register built for data centers — it already feeds this tracker)Searchable public filings — search the operator, the shell LLC on the deed, and the address.

County & town filings

The rezoning application, site plan, traffic and noise studies, staff report and every revision.

Search Cumberland County planning filingssearchPlanning departments post application files under many different names. Find the department, then ask the clerk for the application number — that number unlocks everything else.
Search Cumberland County property records / GISsearchThe parcel record names the buying LLC and the sale date, which is what ties an anonymous filing to an operator.

Utility & grid records

The electricity request is filed with the grid operator and the utility long before the town hears about it — and states the real load.

PJM Interconnection (Mid-Atlantic, Ohio Valley) — interconnection queueRequested megawatts, queue position and target in-service date. The MW here is the real number; the one at the town meeting is often phase one.
Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission — docket searchSpecial contracts, large-load tariffs and rate cases are docketed here. Testimony and exhibits are public, and are usually more candid than the press release.
FERC eLibraryFederal filings: transmission agreements, interconnection service agreements, and co-location disputes.
Search the serving utility for a will-serve lettersearchThe will-serve or load-service letter is the utility's own written commitment. Ask the utility and the PUC for it by name — it is frequently the first document to exist.

Federal databases

Works anywhere, and covers the operator's record at its other sites.

EPA ECHO facility searchEvery federally-reported air, water and waste permit at a facility, plus its inspection and violation history. Search by address or draw a radius around the site.
EPA EnvirofactsThe same underlying records, queryable by county — useful for 'what else is permitted near this site' rather than one facility.
EPA Facility Registry ServiceResolves the shell LLC on a permit to the facility it belongs to. Worth a look when the filing name means nothing locally.

These are places to look, not evidence that anything has been filed. Links were checked on 2026-08-21; search links are queries, not records. What to ask for.

Around here

Pennsylvania briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts.

Other tracked projects in Pennsylvania

4-3 Salem Township Data Center — Salem Township (Luzerne County) Rumored
900 Conshohocken Road data center (former Cleveland-Cliffs steel mill) — Plymouth Township (Montgomery County) Awaiting decision
AWS Berwick — Berwick Under construction
AWS Falls Township campus (Keystone Trade Center) — Falls Township (Bucks County) Approved
AWS Salem Township campus (Susquehanna nuclear plant) — Salem Township (Luzerne County) Under construction

Cite this page: GridWatch AI, “PA Data Center Partners Cumberland County”, aigridwatch.com/projects/pa-data-center-partners-cumberland-pa, retrieved 2026-10-11.

As of August 2026 (2m ago) · changes weekly — re-check before citing

A working set of identified proposals a community can track, not a census — most of the country's activity is not in here yet. Pennsylvania is the exception: its rows are synced from PA DEP's own data-center permit tracker, so the state's coverage is close to complete and carries the permit trail with it. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to reporting or the governing body's own record and were read on that date; rows marked *unverified* have no source on record — a lead to check, not a fact to cite. **Stage is derived, not asserted.** *Hearing scheduled*, *Awaiting decision*, *Approved* and *Withdrawn* are computed from each row's milestone dates on every rebuild, so a hearing date that has passed stops reading 'scheduled'. Hearings get moved and projects re-file under new names — treat a scheduled date as the earliest to act by, and confirm with the clerk before relying on it. Leads are mined into data/project_candidates.json and promoted here only after a human reads a primary source.

Part of the data center project tracker — open data, CC BY 4.0 (JSON · CSV).