Eagle Rock Partners announced Aug. 12 that it will abandon its quest to build a $6 billion data center in Christian County.
County Board President Bryan Sharp told Illinois Times that the North Carolina-based company’s decision was rooted in its concern that the planned supplier of the 1,000-megawatt data center’s power – a yet-to-be-built natural gas-fired power plant in Sangamon County near Pawnee – may never be built.
Eagle Rock didn’t respond to questions from the newspaper.
But Sharp said Ken Loeber, a founder of Eagle Rock Partners, traveled to Christian County on Aug. 11 and told Sharp that the Illinois Climate and Equitable Jobs Act will make it harder for the developer of the long-delayed Lincoln Land Energy Center near Pawnee to obtain financing to build the center. That 2021 law mandates all natural gas-fired power plants in the state to close or reach 100% zero-carbon emissions by 2045.
Eagle Rock is not the developer of Lincoln Land Energy. But Loeber has said Eagle Rock has an agreement with Lincoln Land Energy to buy all of the proposed plant’s power and use that power to operate the proposed Meridian Technology Park data center, on farmland southwest of Taylorville.
Lincoln Land Energy, to be fueled with natural gas, first obtained a construction permit from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency in 2022, but construction hasn’t begun.
According to Sharp, Loeber said the state law, unless it’s modified, would leave Lincoln Land Energy with too short of a lifespan to attract investors who would help finance construction.
The proposed power plant’s previous owner and developer, New Jersey-based Kindle Energy LLC, recently transferred development authority to the original developer, Canadian-based EmberClear, according to Ryan McCrady, president and chief executive officer of the Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance.
Officials from Kindle and EmberClear officials haven’t responded to requests for comment.
An Aug. 12 news release from Eagle Rock said the decision to abandon the Christian County project was made “after careful consideration.”
“Due to circumstances beyond our control, the delivery of the power infrastructure on which the project depended is no longer certain,” the release said.
The release also said, “We are deeply grateful for the thoughtful, transparent leadership and engagement shown by Christian County officials and community stakeholders throughout this process, and we wish Christian County continued success as it evaluates future economic development and energy opportunities.”
Eagle Rock never filed a formal request for zoning approval with Christian County officials to build the data center, and the County Board never took a formal stand on the plan.
But word of Eagle Rock’s interest prompted local residents opposing the idea to post on social media, and about 400 people, most of them opposed to the project, turned out at a June 16 County Board meeting to voice their disapproval.
Sharp said Loeber didn’t cite citizen opposition as a factor in Eagle Rock’s decision to drop its interest in Christian County.
“I know they were very aware of it, but I don’t think that had an effect on their decision,” Sharp said.
Sharp said Loeber also didn’t say whether the change of ownership of the Lincoln Land Energy project played a role.
Christian County officials continue to study what changes to make in the county’s zoning ordinances to balance consumer protections with the need to promote economic growth, Sharp said.
Because Christian County is part of a part of downstate Illinois with easy access to high-capacity electric lines, the county probably will attract more large-scale data center proposals, Sharp said.
“Christian County has the infrastructure and a willing seller,” he said.
With Eagle Rock’s announcement, there’s a “sigh of relief, I guess, for my community on one hand. The other side of the coin is that Christian County still needs some type of development.”
He said the county’s population is aging and declining, and the supply of good jobs makes it difficult to keep young people from moving away.