Gov. Jim Pillen ceremoniously signed legislation June 2 requiring industries such as data centers to foot the bill for a power plant they build to generate their own electricity.

The law opens the door for privately owned data centers to build power plants for their centers. Nebraska’s existing generating facilities are nearly tapped out so the new law will help preserve the state’s energy production, Pillen said.

Pillen signed the bill, LB 1261, in the statehouse surrounded by state senators and representatives from public power entities. The bill was sponsored on his behalf in the last legislature by Sen. Barry DeKay of Niobrara of northeast Nebraska.  

The bill is geared toward data centers and other mega-users of electricity – units that need 1,000 megawatts, or 1 gigawatt, if not more — to operate. It shifts 100% of the financial burden for constructing new energy generation to the large corporation.

That much electricity — 1,000 MW — would power about 300,000 homes for a day.

“LB 1261 incentivizes private industries… to pay the full cost of building and maintaining their energy infrastructure,” DeKay said. “If these new hyperscale loads do materialize, this legislation protects public power by placing the cost burden on the private industry instead of the public.”  

It is a departure for Nebraska’s existing structure, wherein electricity generation is controlled public power districts and their elected board members.

Pillen said Nebraska is “taking a bold and strategic step – one that will create an environment that attracts business and multi-billion dollar investment, while legally preserving Nebraska’s unique and consumer-friendly public power model.”

The privately funded generation facility must serve a single-user entity with a new electric load exceeding 1,000 MW at a single site, which must be physically located on, or adjacent to, that large industrial customer.

Furthermore, the project requires formal approval from the Nebraska Power Review Board. Parties must execute a long-term contract with the local public power district, and the facility can only be used to serve that specific industrial partner.

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