In the United States, Pennsylvania began to tighten the landing conditions for large AI data centres. The Governor, Josh Shapiro, has signed an executive order raising the threshold for approval for projects with peak electricity demand exceeding 25 MW and requiring developers to pay for some of their grid costs.
Exit Quick Approval Channel
This administrative order, No. 2026-05, adjusts the way in which large data centres are reviewed in the states. In the future, if the relevant projects are to receive a simplified review process from the state governments, they need to meet environmental, energy, labour and community requirements, with the necessary local approval.
The new regulations mean that large data centres can no longer rely directly on state-based fast-track licensing mechanisms to advance projects. The State Government has put local approvals ahead of it in an attempt to give communities a clearer say before projects land.
Public location and declaration of energy consumption
Pennsylvania will also establish a public map to disclose the location of the proposed data centre. The data centre, which is already operational, is required to declare energy and water use on an annual basis from July 2027.
Power grid costs are borne by the project
The Executive Order also requires special legal advisers in the Länder responsible for energy affordability to facilitate the restructuring of public utilities and to avoid the transfer of the cost of new grids from data centres to ordinary users.
As envisaged by the State Government, data centres may also be given priority in some emergency situations if they do not lock enough electricity in advance. This arrangement is intended to separate the pressure on the grid from the cost of electricity to the population for high-volume-consuming projects.
All-American resistance continues to expand.
According to Shapiro, over 100 data centre projects have been reported in Pennsylvania, but only 20 applications for permits have actually been submitted to the state environmental protection authorities. The State Government clearly wishes to tighten the rules before more projects enter the formal process.
This move also reflects the growing rebound of the United States to the AI data centre. As more facilities are online, local community concerns about access to electricity, water and environmental impacts continue to rise, and disputes have shifted from enterprise expansion plans to approval and cost allocation by state and local governments.
Additional information:In January this year, the Brookings Institution warned that local resistance could slow down or even disrupt the AI infrastructure project; by August, at least 37 people had been arrested during the year during protests related to the AI data centre throughout the United States.