Wind farm's boost could help with AI energy needs
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The Twin Ridges wind farm in Somerset County. Photo: Courtesy of Exus Renewables North America
Wind farms, solar plants and other green energy projects will help power the growing energy demand from AI data centers, a renewable energy CEO tells Axios.
Why it matters: The electrical grid is being strained by higher energy consumption, necessitating more power generation.
- Pittsburgh-based Exus Renewables North America tells Axios that wind and other renewables are part of that equation, despite opposing statements made by President Trump.
Driving the news: Exus recently received over $158 million in financing that paid for upgrades to the Twin Ridges wind farm in Somerset County and invested in the Patton wind farm in Cambria County.
By the numbers: With the upgrade, Twin Ridges now produces 170 megawatts of electricity, about a 30% increase over its current capacity, said Exus North America president and CEO Jim Spencer.
- The upgrades, completed in 2024, generated 150 local construction jobs, per Spencer.
What they're saying: Data centers across the country are demanding power from wind and other renewables, said Spencer.
- "We work in Pennsylvania, and we work across North America. The appetite and demand we are seeing from data centers is not abating," he said.
- Exus also secured over $149 million in financing for a solar farm project in New Mexico that will power data centers for Meta.
Friction point: Trump said at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at CMU last month that AI "won't be powered by wind, because it doesn't work," saying the power source is intermittent and "causes a lot of problems."
- Trump's administration has been more bullish on natural gas, nuclear and even coal as a fuel source for increased energy consumption.
Zoom out: The U.S. added 2.1 gigawatts of new wind capacity in the first quarter of 2025, a significant increase from Q1 2024, per Wood Mackenzie and the American Clean Power Association, reports Axios' Ben German.
Zoom in: Exus is also looking at adding new wind farms in Elk, Northumberland and Columbia counties in Central Pennsylvania as energy demand jumps, said Spencer.
Between the lines: A proposal to build a natural gas plant in Indiana County to power data centers could generate 4.5 gigawatts of electricity, which would make it the largest gas-fired plant in the nation.
- Spencer said he doesn't see natural gas as a competitor, saying he believes in an "all of the above" strategy, but noted that wind farms like this should come online considerably faster than natural gas plants, which can take years to complete.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to say the Twin Ridges wind farm was upgraded in 2024 (not that it would be upgraded in the future) and updated with additional details from the company.