ROCKFORD, IL — San Diego-based Monarch Energy is closing in on a deal that could bring a data center and as much as $12 billion worth of investment to Rockford.
In what promises to be the largest private investment in the region’s history, Monarch Energy CEO and co-founder Ben Alingh said the company is working to develop about 1,100 acres of land south of the Chicago Rockford International Airport that is zoned industrial.
Monarch has worked for three years with local, state and federal officials in an effort to develop the land. The company says it is working to forge a deal with ComEd to bring large amounts of electricity to the site and with so far unnamed data center operators that would look to be operational in 2028…