I was asked by several newsletter readers after last week’s article about water usage in Nebraska to provide similar information about energy usage in our state. The amount of energy data centers use was of particular interest. The answer to how much energy our communities, industries, including data centers use is that it depends on the specifics of each facility or location. Before I delve further into that, I want to define a few important terms.
A megawatt (MW) is a common term used to describe electrical capacity. A MW is a million watts or a thousand kilowatts (kW). A megawatt-hour (MWh) measures the amount of energy consumed over time. Using the analogy of water flowing through a pipe to describe the difference between capacity and energy consider this graphic:
For purposes of this newsletter we will talk about MW of peak demand, or the maximum amount of power utilized over a specific time frame. This measures the highest electrical power used by a power system or customer.
Below is a chart that shares MW of peak demand for various electrical systems and/or users. For reference, Nebraska’s combined peak demand capacity is nearly 11,000 MW. The actual highest combined peak demand is currently around 7,000 MW.
| Community/Utility/Facility | Peak Demand | Notes |
| Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) | 3087.8 MW | As of Dec. 31, 2025 |
| Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) | 2979.5 MW | As of Dec. 31, 2025 |
| AI Data Center | 500-1,000+ MW | Hyperscale AI |
| Lincoln Electrical System (LES) | 819 MW | As of Dec. 31, 2025 |
| Large industrial facility | 10-500+ MW | Steel mill/electric arc furnace. |
| Large Data Center | 20-100 MW | Mainly for cloud computing, data storage. |
| City of Hastings | 100.7 MW | Reached on July 1, 2005 |
| Large Commercial Facility | 1-20 MW | Office space, hospital, university building, mall |
| City of Seward | 24 MW | Summer 2026 |
| Grocery Store | 0.2-1.5 MW | |
| Restaurant | 50-500 kW | |
| Small retail store | 10-100 kW | Local grocery store/restaurant |
| Single Family Home | 3-10 kW | |
| Apartment Unit | 1-5 kW |
*Many large scale AI data centers using 1,000+ MW of power have been proposed and/or planned but to-date few have been built and are operational in the United States.
To provide additional perspective, consider the peak energy usage of several of the facilities listed above, in terms of equivalent homes in the chart below:
| Facility Type | Equivalent Homes (~5 kW) |
| AI Hyperscale Data Center (250 MW) | ~50,000 homes |
| Large Industrial Facility (100 MW) | ~20,000 homes |
| Large Data Center Facility (50 MW) | ~10,000 homes |
| Large Manufacturing Facility (25 MW) | ~5,000 homes |
| Grocery Store (500 kW) | ~100 homes |
| Restaurant (100 kW) | ~20 homes |
| Small Retail Store (25 kw) | 5 homes |
We will have more information about existing, new and proposed data centers usage of electricity and water from the recent passage of LB1111, which requires them to annually report this information publicly. There are a lot of considerations to take into account for any proposed facility that would utilize a significant amount of energy. One advantage Nebraska has over other states is that we are a state with 100% public power, which is tasked with minimizing the impacts on rate-payers and ensuring adequate capacity vs. publicly-traded utilities who are beholden to shareholders.
For additional reading on how public power is meeting all forecasted summer demand requirements through 2044 with existing, committed, planned, and studied resources check out this report (specifically pages 32-33 for summer peak demand and pages 38-39 for winter peak demand).
As always, if I can be of assistance to you in any way, please do not hesitate to contact my office. My staff members – Matt and Katie – are available to assist you with your needs and they pass along messages, so if you’d like a call back, please let them know!
Email: jana.hughes@leg.ne.gov
Phone: 402-471-2756
Facebook: Senator Jana Hughes
