Data center tenant could be announced at new Upper Burrell site within weeks

Signatures between a tenant and TECfusions, a data center company with a new location at in Upper Burrell, could happen within the upcoming weeks, a company spokeswoman said Friday.

“We are in discussions and negotiations with some tenants,” said Melissa Farney, TECfusions spokeswoman. “I expect to be able to announce something very soon.”

Developer TECfusions acquired the 1,395-acre site at the former Alcoa Research Center in Upper Burrell last winter.

Data centers are large facilities that house computing equipment, such as servers, storage systems and networking devices, for companies and organizations.

News of the Upper Burrell project moving forward comes on the heels of a meeting in Springdale this past week to unveil plans for a data center there at the site of a former power generation plant.

That project, proposed by developer Allegheny DC Property Co., is aimed at tech companies developing artificial intelligence tools and could use up to 180 megawatts of power — enough to supply the needs of 150,000 average homes.

All told, the Upper Burrell site could use 3 gigawatts of power, but that would take about two decades to accomplish, Farney said. Three gigawatts is about three times more than the Three Mile Island power plant near Harrisburg could generate; the nearby Aspen Generation gas-fired power plant in Springdale Township generates about 556 megawatts.

Farney said TECfusions’ plan is to use natural gas already available at the site to power the center. Only about 280 megawatts of power would be supplied by West Penn Power, she said.

“We do intend — I know there is a small amount that comes from utility — but our intent is to use our own natural gas supply,” Farney said.

TECfusions is cleaning the space it has at the facility to make way for a new tenant, Farney said. There are other tenants at the site that are non-data center clients, but Farney declined to discuss who those tenants are.

Once a deal is signed, TECfusions will start reconfiguring existing buildings at the site to accommodate the tenant, Farney said.

TECfusions can’t construct the data center component until there’s a tenant, she said.

“It’s dependent on the tenant and their space,” Farney said. “Each AI deployment is unique based on the servers they want to use. All of this is very specialized and dictates a special configuration and cooling.”

Construction has a quick turnaround, Farney said. The first building could be in place in six months.

Farney said there’d be “very little” inconvenience to nearby property owners during construction.

Official anticipates boon

TECfusions plans a public, informational meeting on the site this fall, Farney said. A date and time haven’t been scheduled.

“It’s to satisfy curiosity and give the community a chance to ask questions they may have, so we can be a good partner,” she said. “We’re excited to start partnering with the community there, as we start to build.”

Representatives from TECfusions attended U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick’s Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon University in July, Farney said.

Additionally, they also met with some area officials recently, said Ross G. Walker III, chairman of the Upper Burrell supervisors.

Walker said he couldn’t share too many details about TECfusions’ plans but did say he was very excited for their future in the township.

“This is going to be, probably, the biggest thing to happen to Upper Burrell,” he said. “I think of it like, when Alcoa moved to New Kensington, Alcoa made New Kensington famous.

“TECfusions moving to Upper Burrell is going to be like that.”