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Roles and Enablers

This roadmap’s success depends on coordinated action across diverse actors including the public, private, academic, and community-based sectors because energy, data center, and AI development intersect with everything from land use and permitting to talent pipelines and evolving technology. The categories below represent fundamental enablers of progress, each focused on a critical area where sustained attention and strategic alignment are needed. For each enabler, the types of organizations best positioned to lead or support are identified, recognizing that responsibilities are often shared across systems.

What: Policy, Governance, and Legal Reform
Who: Federal, State, and Local Government, Courts, Advocacy Groups 

  • Reform land development and energy permitting rules to reduce project delays, ensure transparency and align interest with long-term economic goals
  • Coordinate AI ethics guidance to align with national standards
  • Establish state-level Energy-Data Center-AI Coordination office to ensure alignment between these major influences 
  • Employ funds, policy, regulations, etc., to incentivize strategic outcomes

What: Infrastructure Planning
Who: Utilities, Water & Sewer Authorities, PJM, Public Sector

  • Modernize grid infrastructure and accelerate transmission build-out to align with energy transition and AI-driven demand growth 
  • Update capital investment and asset management plans to adapt to future needs
  • Publish key datasets to help educate communities and to support transparency
  • Pilot innovative projects (e.g., renewable integration and data center heat reuse) to demonstrate Pennsylvania’s leadership
  • Update zoning, siting and interconnection processes to support modular, low-carbon data center development across Pennsylvania’s diverse regions

What: Regional Impacts Across Rural, Urban, and Suburban Landscapes
Who: Local/Regional Planning, Zoning, Economic Development, Community Members, Public Sector

  • Identify best practices and provide shared guidance to balance data center requirements with community impacts and benefits
  • Share model ordinances, economic impact analyses, community benefit agreements to streamline adoption and implementation across Pennsylvania
  • Advance local knowledge and planning to respond to emerging land use trends and AI-related infrastructure needs
  • Establish clear pathways for existing industrial sites and brownfield redevelopment to reduce siting conflicts and leverage pre-permitting where appropriate
  • Provide and track consistent data and analytics to improve transparency and local decision-making

What: Technology and AI-Driven Innovation
Who: Private Sector, Federal Labs, Academia

  • Accelerate Pennsylvania-based R&D in energy innovation (e.g., cooling technologies, AI-enhanced grid efficiency) to strengthen the state’s leadership position
  • Leverage higher education campuses as demonstration sites to showcase new energy technologies and innovation
  • Promote edge computing, modular data centers, and high-efficiency compute designs to meet academic and industry needs in specific regions 
  • Support experimental deployment of clean and hybrid energy systems to test scalable solutions for future demand

What: Workforce
Who: Education, Workforce Development Boards, Private Sector, Trades

  • Fund new pre-apprenticeship, apprenticeship, and credential programs to respond to real employer demand in energy, data, and AI sectors
  • Leverage educational and training best practices from other states experiencing high data center development to assess short- and long-term talent needs 
  • Establish regionally tailored training hubs to align with the growth of  infrastructure corridors
  • Integrate AI, energy systems, and data infrastructure opportunities into existing career, technical, and/or dual-enrollment education programs to prepare the next generation of workers
  • Upskill current energy, IT and manufacturing workers to expand Pennsylvania’s talent pool for data center projects, grid enhancements and AI more broadly