Amazon files for 36 data centers on a dead coal site, powered by a gas plant it will not own
AWS has filed plans for a 36-building campus at Homer City, on the site of Pennsylvania's largest retired coal plant, set to buy power from a 4.5 GW gas plant financed by Knighthead Capital. Most of the plant's output would feed the campus, more than 1 GW is expected to reach the grid, and the build runs to 2036.
Vincent Jiang · 4 min read
Pennsylvania's largest coal station ran from 1969 until 2023, and its hilltop 50 miles east of Pittsburgh has been waiting since 123. More than 1,800 construction workers occupy it now, and this month Amazon−0.39% — Amazon, down 0.39 percent today Web Services filed plans to ring their gas plant with 36 data center buildings across 1,100 acres 124.
The power sits on someone else's balance sheet
The campus builds in four phases from December 2026 to completion by June 2036, with 1,500 to 2,000 jobs promised at average salaries of $80,000 to $100,000 12. Its electricity is to come from a 4.5 GW natural gas plant that Homer City Redevelopment is building with financing from Knighthead Capital Management, an investment firm founded in 2008 that specializes in "operational and financial turnarounds" 125. The plant is due online in 2028 and could be the largest gas-fired plant in the country 3. Most of its output is earmarked for the campus, and more than 1 GW is expected to reach the Pennsylvania grid 12. Amazon has pledged roughly $20 billion across Pennsylvania projects, but at Homer City it is set to buy the power rather than own the plant that makes it 123.
The secrecy ended two days after the letters
On September 30, 2026, Representative Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, wrote to Amazon, Google, Meta and Oracle demanding their data center nondisclosure agreements 6. Two days later, AWS chief executive Matt Garman said the company will stop using NDAs with government agencies and pledged more than $1 billion over five years for host communities 789. More than 100 data center moratoriums are under consideration nationwide, a Journal poll puts 62 percent of voters behind a pause, and Pennsylvania's governor banned the clauses by executive order in August 678. In August, Amazon still described itself as "in discussions" at Homer City with no definitive agreement 3. The preliminary land plan filed this month is the firmest public step yet, and a filing is not a contract.
Capex now outruns operating cash flow
Amazon projects about $220 billion of capital spending this year, more than its business generates in cash annually 9. Quarterly filings show the slope: capital spending climbed from $11.3 billion in the third quarter of 2023 to $53.1 billion in the second quarter of 2026, and it has run ahead of operating cash flow in both quarters of this year 10. The $1 billion community pledge, spread over five years, is roughly half of one percent of this year's projected capital spending 9.
Amazon's capex has quintupled since 2023 and now outruns its cash flow
- Capital spending
- Operating cash flow
Data
| Capital spending | Operating cash flow | |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 '23 | $11.3B | $21.22B |
| Q4 '23 | $13.35B | $42.47B |
| Q1 '24 | $13.94B | $18.99B |
| Q2 '24 | $16.39B | $25.28B |
| Q3 '24 | $21.28B | $25.97B |
| Q4 '24 | $26.05B | $45.64B |
| Q1 '25 | $24.26B | $17.02B |
| Q2 '25 | $31.37B | $32.52B |
| Q3 '25 | $34.23B | $35.53B |
| Q4 '25 | $38.47B | $54.46B |
| Q1 '26 | $43.23B | $26.03B |
| Q2 '26 | $53.08B | $45.39B |
What Garman's pledge does not cover
His case is that data centers already pay their way: Amazon was among seven companies that signed a White House pledge in March to cover the cost of the power and grid upgrades their campuses need, and Garman calls the backlash "misinformation and outright lies" 89. The site already employs 1,800 union tradespeople, headed toward 2,000, on what Homer City Generation, the plant's operator, describes as zero OSHA-recordable incidents to date 4. Generation is the gap. Paying for the power a campus uses leaves the plant itself with the developer and its financiers, the NDA change applies only going forward, and Raskin's investigation found Amazon had used shell companies to conceal its involvement in proposed data centers 8. Microsoft+0.94% — Microsoft, up 0.94 percent today, which dropped the clauses in March, went further and terminated its existing agreements 9.
The decade is the bet
Watch for a definitive agreement behind the land plan, the plant's 2028 online date, and Google's answer to Raskin, which a bill from Raskin and two colleagues would force into the open 36. If AI demand slips mid-decade, Amazon can stretch its four phases across ten years 12. The plant cannot stretch with it: it is due online in 2028, most of its output is earmarked for one campus, and the more than 1 GW promised to the grid remains expected supply from a plant still under construction 123. If the tenant slows down, that timing risk would fall on Knighthead's financing and on ratepayers waiting for the spare power.
Deepdive
AI-generated from this story and its cited sources. Not investment advice.
