A change in developers hoping to build Lincoln Land Energy Center near Pawnee in Sangamon County has meant more uncertainty for a project in Christian County – a proposed $6 billion data center.
Christian County Board Chairperson Bryan Sharp told Illinois Times on July 28 that he is “waiting on clarification” from Eagle Rock Partners, the potential developer of the data center, about whether the change will affect Eagle Rock’s plans.
Ken Loeber, a founder of North Carolina-based Eagle Rock Partners, told the Christian County Board on June 16 that Eagle Rock worked out a power purchase agreement with the future power plant’s owner and developer, New Jersey-based Kindle Energy LLC. Such an agreement would allow Eagle Rock’s proposed Meridian Technology Park data center southwest of Taylorville to get all of the 1,000 to 1,100 megawatts it needs from the long-delayed Lincoln Land Energy Center.
A power purchase agreement could be less expensive for Eagle Rock than buying power from the regional electrical grid. Loeber told Christian County officials that the agreement with Kindle would be important for Eagle Rock’s plans to proceed.
Sharp said he emailed Loeber to ask whether the recent transfer of development authority over the natural gas-powered Lincoln Land Energy plant back to its original developer, Canada-based EmberClear, would negate or otherwise affect any power-purchase agreements between Eagle Rock and Lincoln Land Energy.
Officials from Kindle and EmberClear haven’t responded to multiple requests for comment.
Loeber said in a statement to Illinois Times, “We are aware of the change and are evaluating options for the project.”
Eagle Rock hasn’t filed any zoning applications with Christian County for its proposed data center and hasn’t said when it might file.
Sharp said the Christian County Board in August 2025 decided that it won’t vote on any data center requests until public hearings are held by the county’s Zoning Board of Appeals and the ZBA recommends any new rules or regulations that should be adopted by the County Board to safeguard the public. Those steps won’t be complete until sometime in 2027, Sharp said.
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Loeber told county officials in June that Eagle Rock couldn’t wait a year or more to receive zoning approval, but he hasn’t said whether a delay would prompt Eagle Rock to abandon its interest in a data center in Christian County.
Construction hasn’t begun on the rural Pawnee proposed power plant, which would cost $1.5 billion or more.
The Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance has promoted Lincoln Land Energy as a potential boon to central Illinois. The nonprofit growth alliance says on its website that an economic impact study completed by Northern Illinois University indicates “the project will generate $1.53 billion in economic output during construction and will create more than 1,000 direct and secondary jobs.”
The State Journal-Register has reported that the plant is expected to create 35 permanent jobs and 400 to 700 temporary construction jobs.
Ryan McCrady, the Growth Alliance’s president and chief executive officer, told Illinois Times he learned two or three weeks ago that EmberClear has resumed development responsibilities Kindle took over from EmberClear in 2023. McCrady said he didn’t know details of any business agreements between EmberClear and Kindle, including why EmberClear now is the developer of Lincoln Land Energy.
“The project is not dead, to my knowledge,” McCrady said.
Lincoln Land Energy, under EmberClear, first obtained a construction permit from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency in 2022 and later received two extensions, according to IEPA spokesperson Kim Biggs. The current permit expires Jan. 1, 2027, she said.
McCrady said it’s “not unusual” for power plant construction projects to take years to become a reality.
One challenge facing the Lincoln Land Energy’s developer, McCrady said, could be the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act passed by the General Assembly in 2021. That law requires all natural gas-fired power plants in the state to close or reach 100% zero-carbon emissions by 2045.