Illinois: data centers & your electric bill
The numbers residents cite at hearings — grid, water, and regulator contacts for Illinois, from the free GridWatch toolkit.
Subscribe by RSS — moratorium changes and community headlines for Illinois.
As of July 2026 · changes over months · Source: U.S. Data Center Power Map by State — ElectricChoice.com compilation (updated July 2026; CC-BY 4.0). Underlying load research: LBNL 2024 US Data Center Energy Usage Report; rates: EIA
Facility counts vary by directory because each one draws the boundary differently — DataCenterMap lists 44 in Alabama where this table says 35, since it counts small network rooms alongside hyperscale campuses. Cite the TWh figure rather than the facility count when you can; it is the number that speaks to grid impact. Underlying load research is LBNL-2001637 (Dec 2024).
Your regulator
Illinois Commerce Commission — website · file a complaint
Official state energy data: EIA Illinois electricity profile — generation, prices, and consumption from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Pushback already happening in Illinois
| Where | Level | Status | Note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bloomington | Local | Enactedexpires 2026-11-26 | 6-month pause, unanimous; facilities over 5 MW. At least two public hearings required during the moratorium period | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Normal | Local | Enactedexpires 2026-11-30 | Unanimous; runs through Nov 30, 2026. Preemptive — no active data center inquiries at the time | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Rockford | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-02-03 | 6-month pause passed 14-0. Does not cover the Edson Road parcel Monarch Energy is pursuing — an existing annexation agreement already permits data centers there | Source read 2026-08-04 |
| Aurora | Local | Expiredterm ran to 2026-03-24 | 180-day moratorium, 10-1. Expired Mar 24, 2026 and replaced by permanent regulations: noise limits (56/46 dB day/evening), water standards, energy efficiency, annual reporting. 10 existing DCs | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Champaign County | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-04-23 | 12-month moratorium on data centers >=10,000 sq ft on unincorporated land. Board reversed committee's 9-month recommendation after hearing from dozens of residents. 100+ attendees. Task force created | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Normal | Local | Enactedexpires 2026-11-30 | 6-month moratorium through Nov 30, unanimous. Pause while leaders develop regulations | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Bloomington | Local | Enactedexpires 2026-11-26 | 6-month moratorium on facilities >5 MW, unanimous | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Lake County | Local | Proposed | 8-month moratorium proposed; immediate 120-day administrative deferral enacted. First Chicago-area county to pursue a pause. Directed zoning board to hold hearing on code changes | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Illinois (tax incentives) | State | Enactedexpires 2028-07-01 | Governor Pritzker paused Data Center Investment Program for 2 years. Existing incentive agreements honored. Legislature had adjourned without passing the POWER Act (SB4016/HB5513) | Source read 2026-08-13 |
As of August 2026 · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
Known data center campuses in Illinois
| Operator | Location | Tenant | Filing LLC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta | DeKalb | Meta | Codename shells: Greater Kudu, Raven Northbrook, Stadion, Wobniar, Pinnacle Mountain |
| Microsoft | Chicago | Microsoft | Project-name / generic 'Holdings LLC'; less consistently codenamed |
⏳ No verification date recorded · changes over months · Source: Operator ownership & filing-LLC naming patterns — compiled from operator releases and county filings, then checked against SEC EDGAR full-text search. Composite, not a single citation: look the entity up yourself before naming it in a filing
Each row carries its own attribution level — first-party rows come from the operator's own site, but colocation and REIT ownership was compiled from trade press and never passed an independent fact-check. Check the attribution column before citing a row.
Every data center already built in Illinois
The campuses above are the ones GridWatch tracks by operator and filing LLC. For the full inventory — street addresses of every existing facility, including the smaller colocation and network sites — DataCenterMap keeps a public directory for Illinois.
Browse the Illinois directory →
Two caveats before you cite it at a hearing: it lists facilities that already exist, so a newly proposed campus will not appear; and it counts a small network room the same as a hyperscale campus, so the facility count is not a measure of power draw or community impact.
Latest Illinois data center news
State municipal league: Illinois Municipal League
A data center was proposed near you?
The free toolkit walks you through it in five steps: who's really behind the LLC, what it costs your community, what to do this week, and a downloadable action pack — speech, letters, flyer, and CBA targets included.