The debate over how to regulate data centers in Illinois is intensifying as lawmakers struggle to balance costs to consumers and the state’s need to be competitive economically.
Data centers house computer systems that store, process and distribute data but require large amounts of energy to power that workload.
A state report published in December projects energy shortfalls would begin in northern Illinois by 2029 and the rest of the state by 2031, driven in large part by data centers’ increased power usage.
That’s led Gov. JB Pritzker to backtrack on a proposal he signed in his first year as governor to incentivize data center development in the state.
During his budget address last week, Pritzker proposed a two-year moratorium on those incentives.
