North Platte and Lincoln County are one of many communities being evaluated for data centers. Several land developers co-oping with potential data centers have inquired about appropriate locations for the centers. They came looking, the Chamber said in its newsletter on Tuesday, July 28.

The Chamber said Lincoln County is attractive to data center developers because of its power grid connectivity and high-power transmission lines near the Gerald Gentleman Station. There is a major natural gas pipeline that crosses through southern Lincoln County. The recent designation of a second gas line for CO2 sequestration is also an attraction because the CO2 coming off the power generation plants can be recaptured, much like ethanol plants. 

Large parcels of land in remote areas are also attractive. Larger data centers typically look for 1,000 to 1,200 acres (up to two square miles) for adequate space to build a data center and a co-located energy production plant. 

Smaller centers target acreages of 50 acres and smaller, but are primarily in municipal boundaries.

The Chamber article also commented on other factors, such as:

Who would review a data center project and how would the permit to build be obtained?

If a data center applies for a zoning and building permit in Lincoln County, several entities have roles in the process, depending on the location and scope of a project, the Chamber said.

Typical processes include:

LAND OPTION – Negotiating an option to purchase with a local landowner owning large tracts of land in strategic locations. This takes several months, if not longer.

POWER – Working through a power capacity and delivery study with Nebraska Public Power District or Tri-State Generation and Transmission. Any project anywhere in Nebraska using greater that 5 megawatts of energy must go through a lengthy 9 months to 18 months study.

The study is costly at $35,000 deposit and $12,000 per megawatt needed. The Southwest Power Pool, which serves a multi-state power generation situation must also approve. Some of the data center’s use as much as 1,000 megawatts or 1 gigawatt of power, so to find the power and target the date of delivery is very difficult and would cost $12 million for the study.

PUBLIC POWER STATE – Nebraska is the only public power state in the United States meaning its electrical utilities are owned by the public and managed in territories by various public power entities. Power capacity in the Midwest has been strained over the past five years largely due to data centers already locating and using existing power sources.

In 2026 the Nebraska Legislature allowed for the first time ever, private power plants to be built behind the meter to generate power for the data centers. Data centers must also guarantee that no existing rate payer can be impacted in higher costs because of their project and they must pay for all the upgrades.

NATURAL GAS – In addition to the land option, a data center locating in rural areas and needing to build a power plant would likely turn to natural gas. They would need to negotiate a contract with Tallgrass Energy for capacity to run the power plant and have that signed into contract.

NRD CONTROLS WATER – Natural Resources District are the governing body for determining water use in Nebraska. Lincoln County and the general areas surrounding it has been designated as “over appropriated” for water. Irrigation development was so rapid in previous decades there were far more pivots placed in service that what the acquirer could handle, so restrictions came into play with metering and allocations determined for every water user.

There can be no new water use, so if a new water user wants to come in to Lincoln County, they have to negotiate with existing water users and purchase those rights. In the most logical scenario this would mean retiring irrigation pivots. The NRD must then approve the situation and allow transfer of irrigation acreage for industrial use.

LOCAL CONTROL – Local government approval. Most larger data centers want to locate in remote rural areas away from cities. Lincoln County adopted a new comprehensive plan in 2026 after three years of study, placing restrictive language regarding data centers, wind and solar projects.

They also adopted a conditional use mandate for each of these projects, regardless of location. The conditional use process can take up to 90 days with the planning commission and then 90 days with the governing body, in this case with Lincoln County Commissioners.

CITY DATA CENTERS – The City of North Platte has been targeted by some smaller data companies and they would follow a similar process as Lincoln County does, and likely they would need over 5 megawatts of energy, so they would have to do the study process with NPPD also. The city does not have large undeveloped tracts for larger data companies, unless they would locate adjacent to the current city limits and then be annexed.

LOCAL BENEFITS – a Community Benefits Agreement plan is now mandatory in Nebraska. The local jurisdiction has control over negotiating a community benefits plan over and above the new tax revenue being generated and jobs being created on what the data company would be willing to do for providing other types of benefits for example with law enforcement, road or street systems and fire departments.

STATE & FEDERAL – State and federal agencies would also be involved in approval processes that protect the environment and any emissions or discharge of waste water. These can also be lengthy processes.

PUBLIC HEARINGS – Public meetings with public hearing are required before any project can move forward through many of these processes, taking input from the citizens, but also educating the public on the project.

This is part of the Bulletin’s continuing series of information about data centers. – Editor

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