Energy firm Talen is looking to develop a data center campus in Pennsylvania.
Local press, including Lehigh Valley Live and WFMZ report Slate Belt Holdings LLC is seeking to develop a data center campus outside Bangor in Upper Mount Bethel Township in Northampton County.
Slate Belt Holdings is a partnership between Talen Energy and the River Pointe Logistics team, according to a statement provided to local press.
Site details and scale
Slate Belt acquired 754 acres of land from River Pointe earlier this year. Up to 23 buildings – each offering 201,500 sq ft – could be built on the site, according to documents filed with the township, along with a 480MW on-site substation.
Talen Energy operates the Lower Mount Bethel power plant in nearby Lower Mount Bethel Township. The 607MW natural gas plant launched in 2004.
The townships are located on the state border with New Jersey, some 30 miles northeast of Allentown.
River Pointe's development history and zoning dispute
According to local press, River Pointe purchased the land in 2019 and has been trying to attract commercial or industrial companies to build at the site. The company has said the site could support up to 15 buildings and six million sq ft (557,418 sqm) of development, located close to a 168MW substation.
The pair are currently challenging Upper Mount Bethel Township’s zoning ordinances, which they claim unlawfully exclude data center uses.
Amazon was reportedly previously interested in developing in the area, and is said to have had discussions about developing at the River Pointe site, a new industrial park being developed at the former Portland Generating Station electric plant. The cloud company has reportedly dropped its interest in the site, however, due to uncertainties around power availability.
Talen's broader data center push
Talen began developing data centers back in 2021. Through its data center subsidiary Cumulus Data, it broke ground on a hyperscale facility and a separate cryptomine facility adjacent to its Susquehanna Steam Electric Station nuclear plant in Pennsylvania in 2023. Amazon acquired the data centers from Talen in 2024, and the company is looking to develop a gigawatt-scale campus at the site.
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Talen recently had a request to rezone a large land parcel for a data center in Montour County in central Pennsylvania denied by local officials.
