Maria Santos works in construction in Cambria County, Pennsylvania. A few years ago, she was unsure whether there would be steady work building things anymore. Now she and her crew are building wind turbines.
Santos is part of a wave of new wind farm construction sweeping across parts of Pennsylvania, even as federal leaders push to roll back renewable energy support. The latest sign of that momentum: the company Exus Renewables North America announced it has closed on $365 million in construction financing to build two new wind farms in the state.
The largest of the two projects is Cambria Wind, which will generate 61.6 megawatts of electricity — enough to power roughly 20,000 homes. Exus is based in Pittsburgh and operates as an independent company backed by the global investment firm Partners Group, which has committed over a billion dollars to the renewable energy sector.
Pennsylvania might not be the first state that comes to mind for wind power. The state ranks 47th among all US states for renewable energy adoption, and only about 5% of its electricity currently comes from renewable sources. By comparison, Texas gets 37% of its electricity from wind and solar. Over the past decade, renewable energy generation in Pennsylvania has grown by only 81%, while the rest of the country has grown by nearly 200%.
But the state has a head start that experts say positions it for faster growth. Pennsylvania was an early adopter of wind energy, building its first wind farm on a former coal mine site back in 2000. More recently, developers have been "repowering" older wind farms — swapping out smaller, outdated turbines for taller, more powerful ones that capture stronger winds.
In 2024, the company Deriva Energy completed a repowering project for the North Allegheny wind farm in Cambria and Cumberland counties. The team had to coordinate with the Department of Defense because the new turbines would be tall enough to interfere with military radar. After 18 months of planning, the project now generates 75 megawatts, up from 70 megawatts before.
Other companies are building new wind farms from scratch. Competitive Power Ventures broke ground on the 114-megawatt Rogue's Wind project in Cambria and Clearfield counties — the company's third coal-to-renewables project in Pennsylvania.
For workers like Santos, the projects mean real jobs. Wind farms typically take 18 to 24 months to build and require masons, electricians, heavy equipment operators, and ironworkers. Once running, they employ fewer workers but provide steady maintenance and operations jobs for decades.
Exus says it is focused on building renewable energy projects that can power data centers and other large electricity users. The company expects both new wind farms to be operating within two years.