Babst Calland’s multidisciplinary data center development legal team brings decades of experience in land use and zoning, real estate, environmental and regulatory, energy, construction, emerging technologies, and corporate law. The team is currently guiding the development of well over 3,000 MW of new power generation capacity in data center projects – spanning hyperscale campuses and smaller modular facilities – across Pennsylvania and West Virginia. These projects include design, permitting, power generation, interconnection and financing of both behind‑the‑meter generation assets (natural gas turbines, solar + storage, etc.) and fully islanded power systems that provide baseload, redundancy, and resiliency to support mission‑critical workloads.
This team of attorneys leads all phases of data center development: site acquisition and control, power purchase agreements (PPAs) and power generation agreements (PGAs), grid interconnection, regulatory compliance (state and federal), construction contracts (EPC / design‑build / modular construction), economic and tax incentives, land use and zoning, environmental permitting, and OEM and operational agreements including service level, uptime, backup power and decommissioning. This broad scope is critical to ensure that the power infrastructure meets capacity goals but also that risk is managed across jurisdictions, energy market types, and technology choices.
Babst Calland’s representative experience navigating the opportunities and challenges related to data center development includes the following work:
Site Selection & Development
- Guiding large-scale site selection, water and energy access, and infrastructure alignment, with a focus on regulatory compliance and risk analysis.
- Advising on co-located energy infrastructure, including gas pipelines, electric transmission, solar power generation and battery energy storage systems (BESS).
- Advising on land use and zoning, variances, conditional use permits and public hearings for new and expanding data center sites.
Contracts & Transactions
- Structuring and reviewing leasing and colocation agreements addressing power, connectivity, space allocation and shared services.
- Advising on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC), design-build and architectural service contracts tailored to mission-critical infrastructure.
- Supporting operation and maintenance (OM) matters, including negotiating OM contracts related to power supply and cooling systems, and addressing uptime, preventative maintenance, and vendor oversight.
- Negotiating and drafting enterprise service agreements (SaaS, IaaS), SLAs, service-level agreements 9SLAs), and software licensing terms for virtualized infrastructure and cloud-based platforms.
- Advising on joint ventures, M&A transactions, financing and anchor tenancy for small-scale and large-scale data center developments.
- Structuring and negotiating complex energy service agreements for battery energy storage system (BESS) projects, as well as SREC contracts and solar power purchase agreements (PPAs) on behalf of data center developers and operators, with a focus on pricing mechanisms, performance guarantees, dispatch rights, and risk allocation across project stakeholders.
Permitting & Compliance
- Navigating environmental compliance, utility, and development permitting at federal, state and local levels.
- Structuring public, private and hybrid cloud solutions with attention to data privacy and cross-border compliance.
- Developing policies for data access, governance, retention, AI transparency, and data security and privacy regulatory compliance.
- Providing employment law guidance, workforce compliance, and skilled labor sourcing for data center projects.
- Representing clients in litigation and disputes involving commercial contracts, zoning environmental compliance and cybersecurity and privacy-related incidents.
GRID Project Consent Order and Agreement: What Data Center Developers Need to Know
Data Center Development Alert
(by Kate Cooper, Ben Clapp, Anna Jewart and Peter Landau)
Governor Josh Shapiro issued Executive Order 2026-05 (EO), “Protecting Pennsylvania Consumers from Data Center Impacts” on August 18, 2026. …
Pennsylvania’s New Data Center Executive Order: Two Tracks, One Choice
Data Center Development Alert*
(*updated August 20, 2026)
(by Kate Cooper, Ben Clapp and Anna Jewart)
On August 18, 2026, Governor Josh Shapiro signed Executive Order 2026-05, “Protecting Pennsylvania Consumers from Data Center Impacts.” Much of the initial coverage described the order as blocking data center development. …
FCC Widens Tech Crackdown to Humanoid Robots and Power Inverters
TEQ Hub
(by Justine Kasznica, Susanna Bagdasarova, and Morgan Hubbard)
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has significantly expanded its Covered List to include foreign-produced advanced robotic devices (including mobile robots such as humanoid and quadruped robots) and connected power inverters, effectively barring most new products in those categories from receiving equipment authorization for importation, marketing, or sale in the United States. …
One Year Later: How Pennsylvania’s Data Center Rules Are Rewriting Deal Terms
Pittsburgh Business Times
(By Kate Cooper)
When U.S. Senator Dave McCormick convened the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh in July 2025, more than $90 billion in new investment in AI infrastructure, energy generation, transmission and workforce development was announced. …
PJM’s Proposal to FERC Targets Data Centers and Other Large Load Customers
Data Center Development Alert
(by Justine Kasznica, Kate Cooper and Peter Landau)
PJM Interconnection (“PJM”) is confronting unprecedented load growth driven by data centers and other large energy users. …
Data Centers, Grid Reliability, and Large Load Regulation: Recent Developments in Pennsylvania and the Region
Data Center Development Alert
(by Justine Kasznica and Susanna Bagdasarova)
Pennsylvania’s data center market continues to evolve rapidly as policymakers, regulators, and grid operators respond to growing electricity demand and reliability concerns associated with large-load customers and AI-driven infrastructure development. …
What’s Next for Data Centers in Pennsylvania? Navigating Opportunities & Challenges Ahead
VideoAs demand for AI, cloud computing, and digital storage accelerates, Pennsylvania is emerging as a strategic hub for data center development. This growth presents significant opportunities for developers, energy providers, investors, and host communities – while also introducing complex regulatory, infrastructure, and energy challenges for the region. …
What’s Next for Data Centers in Pennsylvania? An On-the-Ground Look at Navigating the Opportunities, Challenges
Pittsburgh Business Times
(featuring Justine Kasznica, Gina Buchman, Anna Jewart, and Dave White)
Data center development is accelerating across Pennsylvania, creating both opportunities and complex challenges for businesses and communities. …
Babst Calland Among Top-Ranked Firms in Associate Satisfaction Survey
BTI Consulting Group’s BTI Associate Satisfaction A-Listers 2026: BTI Survey of Law Firms Where Associates are Happiest report recognizes law firms that outperform peers based on direct associate feedback across factors tied to retention, engagement and long‑term career satisfaction. …
Powering the Region’s Data Center Growth
TEQ Magazine
(featuring Justine Kasznica)
Guiding hyperscale and modular projects across Pennsylvania and West Virginia, Babst Calland is helping shape the power-secure future of this mission-critical infrastructure. …
