At this point, policymakers, business leaders and many Nebraskans are aware that the state faces a shortage of energy. Electricity prices are increasing, economic growth could be stifled and power utilities and developers alike are scrambling to keep up.

The real question is, “What can Nebraska do about it?” A new report from the Nebraska Chamber Foundation, titled “From Demand to Delivery: Energy, Infrastructure, and Powering Nebraska’s Growth,” tries to show a way.

“By convening leadership from entities across the state to commission this report, we have a stakeholder group activated to support energy infrastructure,” said Tera Norris, president of the Nebraska Chamber Foundation. 

“This group becomes the backbone of statewide support for energy projects, ensuring Nebraska’s business community and others are shaping the future economy together,” she said.

A follow-up on a 2024 survey of Nebraska’s energy crunch, the new report focuses on tracking the tangle of electricity infrastructure and its regulatory constraints. The author, consulting firm Aurora Energy Research, points to aspects outside of Nebraska’s control — and levers the state can pull to help its situation.

Regional grid and bottlenecks

Take the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), which manages the regional grid for Nebraska and 16 other states. Power utilities have said that the SPP is part of the bottleneck for increasing electrical generation, as it has taken years to evaluate and process grid connections for new projects.

Roughly 4.6 gigawatts of Nebraska-based generation is in SPP’s queue with a signed interconnection agreement, according to Aurora. On paper, that should be enough to cover Nebraska’s 4 gigawatts in increased energy demand by 2035. One gigawatt can power about 2,000 Corvettes or 100 million LED lightbulbs.

But some projects may run out of money, face local permitting issues or otherwise fail. Other private generation, despite connecting to the grid in Nebraska, may not actually serve Nebraska power utilities.

It’s a tight margin for Nebraska to meet its energy needs. But Aurora and the state’s utilities say they are on track to do so, even with planned reductions of coal power plants. And SPP has overhauled its process to speed up project evaluations.

“Solar and wind capacity increases by 1GW each between 2026 and 2035, with capacity additions offsetting the thermal capacity reduction from the phased retirement of the North Omaha (power) plant,” the study said.

Securing that energy will be all the more important as industrial clients, such as data centers, drive power demand.

“Aurora expects data centers’ electricity consumption to increase from 4.2 terawatt hours to 6.6 terawatt hours by 2035,” the report said. One terawatt is equal to 1,000 gigawatts. “Growth is concentrated around Omaha-Lincoln, led by (data center) hyperscalars such as Google and Meta.”

Infrastructure work needed

While the state’s power utilities — including the Omaha Public Power District, the Nebraska Public Power District and the Lincoln Electric System — own some transmission lines, they are expensive to upgrade. Nebraska also still relies on regional transmission operated by SPP.

The good news is that SPP has gone from allocating under $1 billion for transmission development to over $8 billion in 2025. That funding includes plans for upgrades and new additions to Nebraska’s transmission.

The bad news is that development still takes time, leaving the regional power grid constrained for the time being, even while adding new generation. 

“Transmission projects can present construction and permitting challenges due to the distance covered by these projects, adding a layer of complexity to the various federal, state, and local requirements,” according to the report.

Power plants have a similar problem. Much of Nebraska’s baseload generation (a cornerstone of serving regular energy demand) are aging and rely on coal to operate. That makes the generation less reliable, more expensive to repair and potentially more of an issue when emergencies strain the power grid, the Aurora report said.

Nebraska’s power utilities have a complex balancing act. They need to get the most out of current power plants to meet demand while adding a variety of generation for projected demand, reliability and longevity. 

Some, like natural gas plants, are designed for consistent power, but take a long time to ramp up or down. Others, like solar and wind, can address energy gaps but aren’t reliable during emergencies. Batteries and natural gas peakers can quickly ramp up and down to meet fast-changing demand.

Asking the state to be more involved

The Aurora consultants also interviewed stakeholders across Nebraska’s power utility and generation world. All are keenly aware that Nebraska’s economic development depends on having available power, but that doesn’t mean everyone is on the same page. 

One large electricity client told Aurora that one of their most important questions for new projects is “How quickly can we get power?” But what may seem like a straightforward ask from businesses is anything but for power utilities.

“People want to build here, build quickly, and plug in overnight — but they don’t understand what it really takes to get energy,” said one public power staff member.

What utilities, developers and the business community do agree on is that Nebraska’s state leadership needs to be more involved. Energy stakeholders want clear incentives and timelines, with a regulatory framework that helps local Nebraskans make decisions about energy projects. 

Otherwise, developers feel stifled. Local leaders can easily reject or delay new generation projects, and some parts of the state are more welcoming than others. This creates a confusing environment that pushes away development — which will go to other states and benefit non-Nebraskans.

“States are competing for businesses, which requires statewide strategy and coordination if Nebraska is going to grow,” said Matt Williams, interim president of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce & Industry. 

“An energy engagement playbook for Nebraska will support industry modernization and also require new workforce pipelines to support these jobs and investments,” he said. “Discussions like those being led by the Nebraska Chamber Foundation are timely and imperative, and engagement is welcome from across the state.”

Lev Gringauz is a Report for America corps member who writes about corporate innovation and workforce development for Silicon Prairie News.