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Lincoln committee to consider Cisco Drive solar array and on-site data center
Summary
At its Sept. 9 committee of the whole meeting, City of Lincoln staff and project representatives presented a proposal for a solar array serving an on-site data processing center on Cisco Drive. Councilmembers placed the item on the regular agenda for further review after questions about visibility, fencing and utility connections.
At the City of Lincoln committee of the whole meeting Sept. 9, staff presented plans for a solar array and on-site data processing center on a 10‑acre parcel on Cisco Drive, with roughly eight acres proposed for the solar installation. The council placed the item on the regular agenda for further consideration.
The proposal, described by a staff member who provided a project packet, calls for a data processing facility served by a solar array sited on property west of the auto auction and east of a nearby water tower. The packet, roughly 280 pages, includes design information the council requested.
The project proponents and several local workers addressed the council during public participation to emphasize local economic benefits. “To date this year, we have about a million dollars in wages that we’ve paid to only people who live in the city of Lincoln, working on projects,” said Tony Grillo. Mitchell Bachman, who identified himself as electoral supervisor and foreman for BTV Energy Solutions, said his crew spends much of the year in Lincoln and buys goods locally. Resident Josh Glazek said the job helped him save to buy a house and pay for private school for his children. “This job has been a great opportunity,” Glazek said.
City staff said the electricity generated would be used on‑site to power the data processing center, not exported elsewhere. A councilmember asked whether the facility would use water for cooling; a project representative said the data center would be air‑cooled, not water‑cooled.
Council members also raised the visibility and neighborhood impacts after prior complaints about a different array on Limit Street. Project representative Tony Grillo told the council he will follow the city’s solar rules and make the fence along Limit Street opaque, add vegetation and maintain the site. He said the project is in an industrially zoned area and would be set behind existing industrial uses, and that he is awaiting Ameren’s final interconnection work before completing landscaping and maintenance handover.
Mayor Tracy L. Welch and staff directed that the proposal be placed on the regular agenda for next week so the council can review the full packet and ask follow‑up questions. No formal approval was taken at the committee meeting.
If the council approves the item at a future meeting, staff indicated they will coordinate remaining issues such as fencing, screening and the Ameren interconnection timeline.
