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Data centers in Lancaster County, Nebraska: 2 projects mapped
Lancaster County's one operating data center is Google's campus north and west of the 56th Street exit on Interstate 80 in north Lincoln. The Lincoln Journal Star reported in 2026 that the site is effectively online for Lincoln Electric System even without a public launch. "For our purposes, the switch has been flipped," said Scott Benson, LES director of strategy and innovation. According to the utility's budget, Google accounts for 11%, or about $41.6 million, of LES's projected 2026 retail revenue. It buys power at Southwest Power Pool market prices rather than standard retail rates, and it is paying for 423 megawatts of wind energy to cover its load. LES put a 3% rate increase in its 2026 budget and is funding two natural gas combustion turbines at the Terry Bundy Generation Station. Benson said the contract was negotiated so existing customers would not carry added risk, but he said details could not be disclosed. The Lincoln Water System supplies the site's cooling water, and a city spokesperson called its consumption private customer information. In December 2025 Google's land company, Agate LLC, filed a $32 million building permit for another structure zoned as a data center.
The current fight is in and around the village of Hallam in the southern part of the county. Monolith, which makes carbon black at its Olive Creek plant there, is proposing a 35-megawatt co-located data center with the Denver company Crusoe, along with four more carbon black units. At a packed town hall in July 2026, Monolith said the data center would be made up of as many as 36 modular Spark units, each about the size of a shipping container, on roughly 10 acres. The company estimated the data center would use about 770,000 gallons of water a year. Residents raised concerns about noise, light and water. "What we've been able to see, and everybody that's come out here, is nothing has been transparent, and everything gets signed, everything gets voted through, and then nothing is what it seems," said landowner Cami Slauson.
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Hallam's planning commission delayed its recommendation on August 19, 2026, after a public hearing where, Nebraska Public Media reported, the only resident to speak in favor was a Monolith employee. Tom Hanna, a member of the opposition group Hallam Says No, told the board that data centers were not a contemplated use in the village's comprehensive plan. On September 16, 2026, the commission voted unanimously to recommend a special use permit. That vote is a recommendation, not the final decision: the Hallam Village Board is scheduled to vote at its October 5 meeting. Crusoe said the conditions of approval now include a community benefit agreement whose funds three members of the village would control. Commissioner Cynthia Heier voted yes but said, "I mean, this portion of Nebraska is under attack from big companies who just think we're just throwaway people."
A much larger project may be coming to the land around Hallam. In August 2026 Nebraska Public Media reported that Stark Power, a Tel Aviv developer that bought Sagebrush Infrastructure in June, holds purchase agreements with thirteen landowners for more than 1,400 acres outside Hallam. The agreements were signed between December 2025 and mid-March 2026, and company documents point to a 1.7-gigawatt hyperscale campus next to Nebraska Public Power District's Princeton Road Station, a gas plant set to begin operating in 2029. NPPD confirmed that Stark had applied and signed a memorandum of understanding to begin its New Load Process. A Stark vice president said no final decision had been made. Separately, the Flatwater Free Press reported in March 2026 that Tenaska had optioned at least 450 acres in Lancaster County as part of land gathering across southeast Nebraska, tied in private utility documents to a possible Google data center of 1,000 to 3,000 megawatts powered by a private gas plant.
Commissioner Matt Schulte proposed a county moratorium, but the Lancaster County Board dropped the idea on September 10, 2026, and set up two task forces instead: one on data centers, covering energy and water, and one on industrial zoning. That followed a zoning text amendment filed by Bold Education, tied to Bold Nebraska. Its draft would allow data centers with conditions, including closed-loop or air-cooled systems unless a developer gets special approval. Commissioner Sean Flowerday argued a moratorium was unnecessary because data centers can only go on industrial land and little such land exists in the county. "The truth is there already is an effective moratorium in Lancaster County because you only build these things on industrial land," he said. Schulte, who agreed to drop the moratorium, added, "we are not opposed to data centers." Commissioners told KOLN they hope to have a plan in place by the end of 2026.
Data center projects on record in Lancaster County
Grouped by the town each site sits in. The report above may name projects that have no record here yet.
Hallam1
| Project | Company | Status | Power | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monolith-Olive Creek Data CenterHallam | Monolith / Crusoe | Proposed | 35 MW |
Lincoln1
| Project | Company | Status | Power | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google LincolnLincoln | 141 MW |
Where this comes from
The reporting above was written from these. Open one and check it yourself.
Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.