Developer shares data-center plans with Kewanee City Council

The idea of a data center in Kewanee drew lots of opinions at a city council meeting Monday night.

"Some have had better success than others, and I do challenge you, and I will be challenging you to make sure that you not only working with the developer, but working with the citizens," said one person during the open discussion. "Also examining the places that worked. As well as looking at places that didn't work and just what happened."

City council members say this is strictly a concept right now, and would need lots of time to research and discuss.

But Kewanee's mayor, Gary Moore, made one thing clear: "The no vote for me as far as data centers is if it costs any residents a single penny," he said.

Developer Pawel Nowak says he would pay for the project in full and tax revenue generated for the city could be substantial.

"Kewanee taxes every kilowatt per hour, used in town," said Nowak. "So estimated, we will be paying around 157 thousand dollars a year at full build-out, all on our bill."

However during the presentation, Nowak wouldn't rule out the idea of asking the city for incentives after the center was built. Some of the public said they don't approve of that.

"I would look for you guys to definitively state that you would not offer TIF (tax increment funding) money, you would not consider any type of tax abatement for it," said another person at the council meeting. "I don't think you would, but this is what I would be looking for, right?"

Nowak says the data center would use 10 megawatts of electricity and can exist on Ameren's current infrastructure. He went on to say that it wouldn't have an impact on anyone's power bills. He addressed water-use concerns and says it would be on a closed loop system and would use about 200 gallons of water a day, comparing its daily usage to a small office.

Nowak also says the data center would be held to Kewanee's noise code.

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