Data Center Demand Pushes Kansas Power Growth Higher
Evergy's agreements point to load growth above 8% a year extending well into the 2030s, though the largest deals are still preliminary.
Updated on Nov. 6, 2026 in Data Centers
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Evergy Inc. signed a letter of intent for 1.4 gigawatts of electric service with a major data center developer planned west of Kansas City, and added 250 megawatts to its growth pipeline through expanded agreements. The development is at the announced stage: the 1.4-gigawatt deal is a letter of intent, and a separate preliminary deal with Digital Realty Trust is not yet a final contract.
Why it matters
Large-load customers such as data centers are driving higher growth expectations at Evergy and at many utility peers, reshaping how regional grids plan for demand. For Kansas, the scale of these commitments signals that data center construction is becoming a major driver of electricity infrastructure investment.
Evergy's figures are contractual pipeline commitments rather than measured operating output, so the megawatt and gigawatt totals describe potential demand rather than delivered load. The 8% annual load growth is the current pace reported by the company, against which the expected rise into the 2030s is measured. The source does not give the timeline for converting these pipeline entries into operating load.
The players
Evergy Inc.
A Kansas and Missouri electric utility whose growth now relies heavily on large-load data center customers signing expanded service agreements.
Digital Realty Trust
A data center real estate company that is redeveloping part of the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant in De Soto, Kansas.
The details
Evergy, a utility serving Kansas and Missouri, reports new large-load demand through electric service agreements, which are contracts that commit the utility to supply a set amount of power to a customer. A letter of intent is a preliminary, non-binding document that signals both sides intend to negotiate a full agreement. The company says it sees a steady cadence of pipeline opportunities converting into announced agreements over the next 12 to 18 months.
Timeline
Q3 2026: Two large-load customers expanded agreements by a combined 110 megawatts.
November 5, 2026: Evergy reported third-quarter results and announced the data center deals.
Week of November 5, 2026: Another customer signed up for an expansion of about 140 megawatts.
Next 12 to 18 months: Evergy expects a steady cadence of pipeline conversions to announced agreements.
The Tech Race
Data center developers are competing for grid capacity across the region, and utilities are responding by signing large-load agreements measured in gigawatts. Digital Realty's redevelopment of the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant in De Soto shows how data center campuses are being built on former industrial land at very large scale. The source does not place these commitments against a named competing utility's pipeline.
Kansas residents and businesses will not see immediate changes from these agreements, since the letters of intent are preliminary and the source gives no timeline for power delivery. The commitments do signal that Evergy plans to add substantial generating and transmission capacity to serve the new load over the coming years.
The takeaway
Watch whether Evergy's preliminary agreements, including the 1.4-gigawatt letter of intent and the Digital Realty deal, convert into binding contracts over the next 12 to 18 months. That conversion rate will show how quickly Kansas data center demand becomes committed grid load.
What happens next
Evergy expects a steady cadence of pipeline conversions to announced agreements over the next 12 to 18 months, which will show whether the preliminary letters of intent become binding contracts.
Further reading
For broader context on how grid demand is reshaping power planning, explore our Data Centers coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by T&D World.
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