October 19, 2026
Don’t listen to the naysayers.
The launch of new power plants, data center projects, and manufacturing facilities is creating new family-sustaining careers for Pennsylvania residents. You just need to look at the apprenticeship numbers for some of the skilled building trades that are building that infrastructure.
Other skilled-trade unions in the region are showing similar growth in their apprenticeships.
Some projects are underway – the TECfusions data center at the reclaimed Alcoa research park in Westmoreland County, the 4.3 GW Homer City generation project on the site of an old coal-fired power plant in Indiana County, Aligned Data Centers redeveloping part of a former coal-fired power plant complex.
Others are moving through the approval process including the U.S. Steel hot strip mill in Braddock, Vistra’s expansion of the Beaver Valley Nuclear Plant, NextEra’s proposed 3.75 GW gas-fired power plant complex in Fayette County, the Prime Data Centers power-and-data campus in Washington County.
Together, those projects alone could total $40 billion or more in heavy construction over the next 10-20 years. And thousands and thousands of new manufacturing, energy, and data jobs.
Tens of billions in investment.
Thousands of jobs.
Across multiple counties.
If we stay focused on the goal.
“We are proud to have our local members playing a leading role in building a project that will support jobs, economic growth, and energy development for decades to come,” Shawn Steffee, business agent for Boilermakers Local 154 said, about the Homer City project. “The future could not be brighter for our members and our apprentices.”
