Data Center Engergy Bill Advances at Legislature

LB1261 drew over three hours of debate on Wednesday.

The following constitutes the reasons for this bill and the purposes which are sought to be accomplished thereby:

The entire nation is facing unprecedented growth in the demand for electricity led in part by extremely large new loads associated with hyperscale data centers. The unprecedented demand for new generation resources and related infrastructure has significantly constrained the global supply chain for new generation and other necessary equipment. In order to help alleviate this near-term supply chain challenge, it is the intent of this legislation to allow public power utilities to limit their power of eminent domain and collaborate with privately owned generators who may have earlier access to such generators and related equipment to help meet Nebraska’s growing electricity needs. This bill has been carefully developed to preserve Nebraska’s public power structure which has provided long term benefits to all electric consumers in this state through low costs and high reliability. LB 1261 creates clear requirements including the size of the loads to be served, preservation of exclusive retail service areas and other requirements to assure this preserves the benefits of being an all public power state while creating an opportunity for private investment to assist with meeting the unprecedented growth in electricity demand and the supply chain challenges that have come with it.