Evergy Seeks to Delay 2,800 MW of Coal Retirement to Power Data Centers

Evergy, Kansas's largest electric utility, asked regulators in Kansas and Missouri to delay by at least five years the retirement of approximately 2,800 megawatts (MW) of coal capacity, to serve data center contracts already approved under its new large-load tariffs, Latitude Media reported on August 14.

The request is part of a plan to serve a multi-gigawatt portfolio of large customers: more than 2,000 MW of data centers have signed agreements under those tariffs, approved in Kansas in November 2025 and in Missouri in February 2026, and Evergy plans to build 5,000 MW of new generation, including 3,900 MW of natural gas. The case reflects a national trend documented by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA): electricity demand grew 1.7% annually between 2020 and 2025, compared to 0.1% between 2005 and 2019, with data centers as the primary driver. The same question of what generation powers computing and artificial intelligence is playing out in Mexico and Latin America, where data center demand is pressuring electrical systems.

Large-load tariffs require data centers to pay a monthly minimum of 80% of their contracted demand, with long-term commitments (12 years in Kansas, 15 in Missouri) and a 75 MW threshold. Customers include Google, with a 710 MW data center in Kansas City, Evergy's largest to date, as well as Meta and Digital Realty. The company's coal fleet ranges from 40 to 71 years old; the plan delays the retirement of two units by five years and removes La Cygne 2, Iatan 1, and Jeffrey 1 from the 20-year plan. In its high-demand scenario, the EIA projects coal contributing more than half of incremental generation among PJM, MISO, and SERC operators, due to idle capacity.

The decision rests with the Kansas and Missouri commissions. The key question is whether the premiums paid by data centers cover the true cost of operating coal plants up to 71 years old, something that, according to Latitude Intelligence analyst Nick Zenkin, will only become clear in the coming years.

This article was drafted with artificial intelligence assistance from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.