Data Centers, Nuclear Power and Northern Illinois: Why Energy Demand Is Becoming a Real Estate Story
Data centers may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about real estate, but Sheila Wade and Aubra Palermo think they are worth paying attention to.
Especially when we start talking about the amount of land, electricity, infrastructure and investment needed to support them.
On a recent episode of The Listed Podcast, Sheila and Aubra discussed a Realtor.com report about the federal government’s plan to help finance five new nuclear power plant projects as electricity demand continues to grow across the country.
Their question was pretty straightforward:
“It’ll be interesting to see where the five plants will be built and how many jobs it will create.”
We are wondering the same thing.
Because this story is about much more than where electricity comes from. It is also about where some of the country’s largest new developments are being built, what those projects require from the communities around them and what that growth could eventually mean for housing and local real estate markets.
Why the U.S. Is Planning More Nuclear Power
According to Realtor.com, the U.S. Department of Energy has announced a conditional commitment of up to $17.5 billion in loans aimed at accelerating five eligible nuclear projects across the country.
Each project would include two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors, for a total of 10 new commercial nuclear reactors.
The Department of Energy says each reactor can produce approximately 1.1 gigawatts of electricity. Together, the 10 reactors could generate enough power for roughly 10 million homes. The federal initiative is intended to accelerate construction timelines, strengthen the domestic nuclear supply chain and help get 10 new large-scale reactors under construction by 2030.
Where will they be built?
That part has not been decided yet.
Westinghouse has letters of intent with seven potential partners that have identified possible project sites, but the companies and locations have not been publicly named.
And that is where this becomes an interesting conversation for communities all over the country.
Data Centers Need an Incredible Amount of Power
A major reason electricity demand is getting so much attention is the rapid growth of data centers.
These are the facilities behind cloud computing, streaming, online services and, increasingly, artificial intelligence. They require enormous amounts of computing power, which also means enormous amounts of electricity.
Realtor.com reports that more than 4,000 data centers are already operating across the United States, with hundreds more under construction or in development. The publication also cited estimates that data center power demand could more than double between 2025 and 2027.
That kind of growth raises an obvious question Sheila and Aubra brought up during their discussion:
Who pays for all of the additional power and infrastructure those developments require?
President Donald Trump announced what his administration calls the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, which calls for major technology and data center companies to cover the costs associated with the additional electricity generation and infrastructure their facilities require rather than shifting those costs onto existing utility customers.
How those commitments are implemented will matter, particularly as more communities consider large-scale data center development.
And Then There Are the Tax Incentives
There is another piece Sheila and Aubra found interesting.
At least 38 states have offered dedicated tax incentives for data center development, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Those incentives can include exemptions on equipment, electricity and property taxes and are generally intended to encourage major investment and job creation.
But this is changing quickly.
States across the country have started reconsidering whether those incentives still make sense as the number and size of proposed data centers increase.
Illinois is part of that conversation.
The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity states that, following a June 2026 directive, it stopped processing new applications for the state’s data center incentive program as of July 1, 2026. Before that change, qualifying projects could receive several state and local tax exemptions, with requirements that included at least $250 million in investment and the creation of new jobs.
That makes this national story particularly interesting from where we sit in Northern Illinois.
What Could Data Center Development Mean for a Local Community?
This is where Sheila and Aubra look at the story through a real estate lens.
A project involving a data center or new power generation facility is obviously very different from a new subdivision or commercial storefront. But large developments can still influence the communities around them.
There is the land itself.
There is infrastructure.
There are utility requirements.
There are construction jobs and potentially permanent jobs after a facility opens.
There can also be questions surrounding taxes, neighboring properties, roads, water use, electrical capacity and what type of development a community wants to attract.
And if a major project creates enough new employment, there is another question real estate professionals naturally start asking:
Where are those people going to live?
That does not mean every data center automatically creates a housing boom or that a nuclear project automatically increases nearby property values. The impact depends heavily on the size of the project, the number and type of jobs created, the location and how the surrounding community develops.
But those are exactly the kinds of changes worth watching.
For buyers, sellers and property owners in Freeport, Rockford, Stephenson County, Winnebago County and throughout Northern Illinois, economic development does not happen in isolation. Jobs, infrastructure, commercial investment and housing are often connected.
Sheila and Aubra Want to Know What You Think
There are still plenty of unanswered questions.
We do not yet know where these five nuclear projects will be located. We do not know which communities will see the next wave of major data center investment. And communities across the country are still deciding how to balance potential jobs and economic development with concerns about utilities, infrastructure and cost.
So Sheila and Aubra are turning the question over to you:
“What are your thoughts on these data centers and power plants being built?”
Would you welcome a major data center project in your community because of the potential investment and jobs?
Would you want to know more about its impact on electricity, infrastructure and surrounding property owners first?
Or maybe a little of both?
These are the types of national real estate stories Sheila and Aubra like bringing back to the local level, because what sounds like a technology or energy story today can eventually become a land use, economic development and housing story tomorrow.
Continue the Conversation on The Listed Podcast
Sheila Wade and Aubra Palermo discuss this story and more of the latest national real estate news on The Listed Podcast from the RE/MAX Unites Golden Girlz Team.
You can also read the original Realtor.com article about the $17.5 billion nuclear financing plan and growing data center energy demand.
The Golden Girlz Team works with buyers and sellers throughout Freeport, Rockford, Stephenson County, Winnebago County and Northern Illinois, and we will continue watching the development stories that could shape the communities we call home.
Because sometimes the biggest real estate story isn’t a house that’s for sale. It’s what is being built down the road.