Upper Burrell Data Center/TECfusions Keystone Connect, New Kensington (Upper Burrell), Pennsylvania

TECfusions is building a data center campus at the former Alcoa Technical Center in Upper Burrell, a Westmoreland County township of about 2,000 people. The Florida company closed on the roughly 1,400-acre site on December 2, 2024 and says it could eventually add up to 3,000 megawatts of computing power over as long as 20 years. Its first tenant, the AI cloud company TensorWave, has moved into Building J with about 10 megawatts running today, supporting more than 100 skilled trade jobs.

Upper Burrell passed a 180-day moratorium on new data center approvals in May 2026, running through November 11, 2026, after residents raised concerns about noise, water and unanswered questions on the plan's scale. The moratorium does not cover work already permitted for TECfusions; on August 5, while it was still in effect, supervisors approved a land development plan letting the company upgrade electrical and mechanical systems at Building J. A July 1 environmental study projected an on-site gas power plant would emit 15.6 million tons of greenhouse gases a year.

Resident Sue Baxter told the township, "It's been three months, and they still have nothing to show." Township chairman Ross Walker said, "We don't have answers because (TECFusions doesn't) have answers. We can't read their minds." Founder Simon Tusha has said the company wants to feed power "back to the grid, if they need it in the community."

Protect PT and residents Guy Fuller and Allen Uhler filed a land use appeal in Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas, arguing supervisors should have sent TECfusions to the zoning hearing board before approving its building plan. Separately, TECfusions is asking Commonwealth Court to seal a $250,000 proposal it submitted to Pennsylvania's economic development office, arguing it contains trade secrets.

Upper Burrell's moratorium runs through November 11, 2026, and the township's data center ordinance was still moving through review in mid-September.