Speers Borough, Washington County
GE Vernova is spending up to $90 million to add capacity at its Grid Solutions plant in the Charleroi area of Washington County, which makes high-voltage switchgear for the electric grid, and it pledged 250 new jobs there in 2025.
On January 29, 2025 GE Vernova announced nearly $600 million in U.S. factory investments, including nearly $20 million for its Charleroi switchgear plant and a Clearwater, Florida plant with more than 260 jobs between them. At the July 15, 2025 Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh it announced up to $100 million for Pennsylvania facilities, including 250 new jobs at Charleroi; Fox Business reported about $80 million would go to Charleroi over two years. In March 2026 a GE Vernova subsidiary paid $70 million for a 700,000-square-foot former distribution center in Rostraver Township that it had partly leased. In July 2026 Senator McCormick's office reported the Charleroi facility had grown along with about 700 new jobs statewide, and on July 30, 2026 Governor Shapiro announced a separate $166 million expansion in Findlay and Rostraver townships at an event in Charleroi.
GE Vernova's investment page lists 430 jobs created at the Charleroi Grid Solutions plant in 2025 and 2026, tied to up to $90 million in new equipment and capacity. The July 2025 summit announcement had promised 250.
GE VernovaThe separate expansion announced July 30, 2026 in Findlay and Rostraver townships is expected to create at least 714 new jobs over four years and keep 735 existing full-time jobs, with $6 million in state grants offered.
Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic DevelopmentIn Pennsylvania, the local zoning ordinance sets the route. A conditional use is decided by the elected governing body (supervisors, commissioners or council). A special exception or variance, and an appeal of a zoning officer’s decision, go to the Zoning Hearing Board. Each is a public hearing on a record: affected neighbors can ask for party status, cross-examine witnesses, and appeal. Municipalities can also adopt data center ordinances with enforceable standards.
Know your rights →Organized community opposition is the single most effective check on these projects in Pennsylvania. Show up to hearings, submit comment when it is taken, support legal and expert-witness costs, and press your municipality for a real ordinance. Pennsylvania municipalities cannot simply freeze applications, but a curative amendment under the Planning Code gives them a defined window to fix a defective ordinance.
How communities push back →