Lake County

Moratoriums and bans

1. Sept. 8, 2026 Lake County (unincorporated): Moratorium. The County Board adopted an eight-month pause on data center applications in unincorporated areas, lasting through May 2027, after unanimous recommendations by the Zoning Board of Appeals (Aug. 18) and a board committee (Sept. 2); a temporary administrative deferral had been in place since June 10. It does not reach projects inside municipalities such as T5 in Grayslake. (Lake County, Illinois, Sept. 8, 2026; Lake County, Illinois, Aug. 6, 2026; Lake County, Illinois, June 10, 2026; Lake County, Illinois, Sept. 8, 2026; Daily Herald, Aug. 18, 2026)

Updates, newest first

1. Sept. 8, 2026 Lake County (unincorporated): Moratorium · The County Board adopted an eight-month pause on data center applications in unincorporated areas, lasting through May 2027, after unanimous recommendations by the Zoning Board of Appeals (Aug. 18) and a board committee (Sept. 2); a temporary administrative deferral had been in place since June 10. It does not reach projects inside municipalities such as T5 in Grayslake. (Lake County, Illinois, Sept. 8, 2026; Lake County, Illinois, Aug. 6, 2026; Lake County, Illinois, June 10, 2026; Lake County, Illinois, Sept. 8, 2026; Daily Herald, Aug. 18, 2026)
2. Sept. 1, 2026 T5 @ Chicago IV (Grayslake campus) · Grayslake issued the building permit for the first 800,000-square-foot building on a campus of up to 472 acres. (Daily Herald, Sept. 1, 2026; Blackridge Research, Sept. 20, 2026)
3. Aug. 14, 2026 T5 @ Chicago IV (Grayslake campus) · Lake County reported that T5 had sought permits to fill 16 to 26 acres of wetlands and then volunteered to suspend that application indefinitely; the county noted it has no jurisdiction over the Grayslake project. (Lake County, Illinois, Aug. 14, 2026; Lake County, Illinois, June 11, 2026; Lake County, Illinois, Sept. 8, 2026)
4. Oct. 11, 2025 T5 @ Chicago IV (Grayslake campus) · The campus had grown to more than 490 developable acres after unanimous village approvals of each phase; site work, the first three buildings and a substation were under way. (Daily Herald, Oct. 11, 2025)
5. June 5, 2024 T5 @ Chicago IV (Grayslake campus) · The site lies in the Cornerstone business park, which the village approved in 2009 and which was already zoned for the use, so only site and building permits were needed. (Daily Herald, June 5, 2024)
6. May 3, 2024 T5 @ Chicago IV (Grayslake campus) · T5 announced a 160-acre Grayslake campus that could reach 480 MW, with the first building due in late 2027. (DatacenterDynamics, May 3, 2024)
7. Jan. 27, 2024 Chirisa Volo Technology Park · Chirisa was reported to own the roughly 50-acre site, with a 14 MW first building and a second 14 MW phase planned in the existing shell. (DatacenterDynamics, Jan. 27, 2024)
8. June 2, 2023 Chirisa Volo Technology Park · The vacant 160,000-square-foot former HSBC/Capital One data center on 42 acres went to online auction. (DatacenterDynamics, June 2, 2023)

Statewide

20 ILCS 605/605-1025, created by Public Act 101-0031 (2019) and amended by P.A. 101-0604, 102-0427 and 102-0558, lets DCEO certify data centers that invest at least $250 million and add 20 full-time jobs paying at least 120% of the county average wage, with green or carbon-neutral certification within two years and a project labor agreement; certified centers and tenants get state and local sales and use tax exemptions for up to 20 years plus an income tax credit under Section 229, and the statute bars new certificates after July 1, 2029. (Illinois General Assembly, undated) DCEO's 2025 annual report counts 34 certified data centers as of Dec. 31, 2025 (35 applications, one withdrawn or denied), with $10.67 billion in committed investment, 731 promised jobs and an estimated $666.6 million in tax benefits, figured at 6.25% of committed investment; Elk Grove Village has 14 of the 34 sites and Chicago 5. (Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, 2026) Gov. JB Pritzker proposed a two-year suspension of the incentive in his February 2026 budget address; lawmakers did not enact it, so on June 5, 2026 he directed DCEO to stop processing new Data Center Investment Program agreements from July 1, 2026, while honoring agreements signed before then. The statute itself was not amended. (Office of Gov. JB Pritzker, June 5, 2026; Capitol News Illinois, June 5, 2026; NPR Illinois (Medill Illinois News Bureau / Capitol News Illinois), Feb. 20, 2026) Senate Bill 25, the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act, passed the House 70-37 and Senate 37-22 in the October 2025 veto session and was signed Jan. 8, 2026 as Public Act 104-0458, effective June 1, 2026; for data centers it requires new backup generators in construction-permit applications filed with Illinois EPA on or after Dec. 1, 2026 to meet Tier 4 or Tier 4-equivalent (diesel) or Tier 2 spark-ignition (gas) emission standards, with no change for existing engines. (Illinois Power Agency, 2026; ABC7 Chicago (Capitol News Illinois), Nov. 1, 2025; ALL4, June 11, 2026; NPR Illinois (Medill Illinois News Bureau / Capitol News Illinois), Feb. 20, 2026) The POWER Act, SB4016 (Sen. Ram Villivalam) and HB5513 (Rep. Robyn Gabel), would bar shifting data center grid costs to other customers, require hyperscale centers to bring new clean capacity, add water permits and reporting, fees for public-benefit funds and community benefit agreements, and ban local nondisclosure agreements; SB4016 has sat in Senate Assignments since February 2026 and HB5513 was sent back to House Rules March 27, 2026. Neither passed by the May 31 adjournment, and as of Oct. 16, 2026 talks were aimed at the Nov. 17-19 and Dec. 1-3 veto session. (Illinois General Assembly, Feb. 17, 2026; LegiScan, Aug. 26, 2026; Illinois Environmental Council, June 1, 2026; Capitol News Illinois, June 5, 2026; The Center Square (via Cities 92.9), Oct. 16, 2026; WAND News, Oct. 16, 2026) ICC Docket Nos. 25-0677 and 25-0679 (consolidated): on March 19, 2026 the commission approved ComEd's revisions to its General Terms and Conditions and Rider DE for large demand project applicants (50 MW or more). The deposit is $1 million for 50-200 MW plus $500,000 for each further 100 MW, a letter of credit is required when the deposit would exceed $2 million, and the new tariff does not apply to data centers already on the grid. The commission ordered staff to start a wider ratepayer-protection proceeding by April 23, 2026, to finish within about eight months; that docket number was not found in sources opened. (NRG Energy (filing in ICC Docket Nos. 25-0677/25-0679), Nov. 10, 2025; NPR Illinois (Capitol News Illinois), March 20, 2026; Environmental Law & Policy Center, March 20, 2026; pv magazine USA, March 23, 2026; Edison Electric Institute, Oct. 9, 2026) ComEd also signs Transmission Security Agreements with large loads; a ComEd fact sheet counts eight, covering more than $2 billion in revenue security, and EEI lists TSAs for an Equinix 700 MW data center in Minooka and a Tract campus of up to 1,000 MW in Morris. Capitol News Illinois reported more than 75 large-load projects seeking over 28,000 MW from ComEd (the fact sheet cites 30,000 MW of requests over three years), against a record peak of about 24,000 MW. No Ameren Illinois large-load tariff filing was found in the sources opened. (ComEd (posted by City of Morris), undated; Edison Electric Institute, Oct. 9, 2026; NPR Illinois (Capitol News Illinois), March 20, 2026) No statewide siting rule appears in the sources opened; Gov. Pritzker says each community should decide whether it wants a data center, and in October 2026 House Republican Leader Tony McCombie proposed keeping siting with municipalities while barring approvals within three miles of residential areas; no bill number was given in the reporting. (WAND News, Oct. 16, 2026) Illinois data centers →