- Evergy’s $5.3 billion grid buildout for AI data centers requires 3.9 gigawatts of new natural gas capacity and will delay the retirement of around 2.8 gigawatts of coal plants by at least five years.
- Missouri’s Public Service Commission approved tariffs requiring customers drawing more than 75 megawatts to cover 100% of interconnection costs upfront on 12-year contracts, with no discounts.
- A $16 billion AI data center project collapsed in Missouri in August 2026 after local opposition over water use, noise and electricity costs, before the state’s 2026 legislative session produced any AI-specific policy framework.
A $16 billion AI data center project in Missouri collapsed in August 2026 after residents objected to its water use, noise, traffic and electricity costs, and left state regulators holding a policy gap that no legislation has yet filled. The abandonment came just as Evergy disclosed a $5.3 billion grid buildout to serve five data center projects already under way in its service territory, and as reporting by the Missouri Independent confirmed the state’s power grid faces billions in upgrades it had never anticipated.
A Different Class of Demand
Missouri has hosted data centers since the early 2000s, with around 50 established by the 2020s. The current wave is different in kind. Hyperscale facilities built for AI workloads routinely exceed 100 megawatts; some campuses are designed for multiple gigawatts, roughly the output of a large nuclear reactor each. That scale compresses timelines for generation investment utilities would normally plan over decades.
Ameren Missouri the state’s largest utility, is planning for up to 2 gigawatts of new demand by 2032, driven largely by data center projects. Deloitte has projected that U.S. power demand from AI data centers could rise from 4 gigawatts in 2024 to 123 gigawatts by 2035, though projections at that range vary considerably by source. The scale of anticipated AI workload power demand is reshaping how utilities approach long-range capital planning.
Who Pays for the Grid
A draft federal report on national transmission needs, released in mid-2026found that the U.S. electric grid is strained across much of the country, requiring thousands of miles of new power lines and substantial capital investment.
Cost allocation is where Missouri’s regulators have moved most decisively. In November 2025, the Missouri Public Service Commission approved new large-load tariffs for Ameren Missouri requiring any customer drawing more than 75 megawatts to sign 12-year contracts, pay 100% of direct interconnection costs upfront and accept higher rates than other industrial customers, with no discounts and early termination fees attached. Evergy secured PSC approval for a comparable framework in the same period, mirroring a structure Kansas had already adopted. The Sierra Club was among the advocacy groups that pushed for the tariff structure, with the stated goal of insulating residential ratepayers from costs generated by industrial-scale customers. Department of Energy officials echoed that framing during a visit to Jefferson City in August 2026. This cost-allocation approach shares structural similarities with PJM’s interconnection rules which set a June 2027 deadline for large AI data center customers to secure their own power arrangements.
Coal Stays On, Nuclear Gets Attention
Evergy’s buildout plan calls for 5 gigawatts of new generation, of which 3.9 gigawatts would be natural gas. To cover baseload demand while that construction proceeds, the company plans to delay the retirement or conversion of around 2.8 gigawatts of coal capacity across Kansas and Missouri by at least five years. The tension with clean energy commitments is direct: data centers typically seek credible low-carbon power claims for their AI infrastructure, yet the infrastructure required to serve them is extending the operational life of coal generation.
Ameren Missouri’s Callaway Nuclear Generating Station, which supplies roughly a quarter of the state’s electricity, has drawn interest from technology companies pursuing power purchase agreements as a way to support clean energy claims for their AI operations. Whether those agreements can be structured at the scale data center operators require remains unresolved.
Federal Activity, Local Friction
President Trump signed executive orders in July and December 2025 to accelerate federal permitting for AI data centers requiring more than 100 megawatts of new power, alongside a voluntary ratepayer protection pledge from the White House. The Department of Energy announced funding for reconductoring, a programme to replace aging power line conductors with higher-capacity alternatives. In Congress, proposals including the GRID Act and the AI Data Center Moratorium Act reflect concern about the pace of expansion, though neither had advanced to passage as of the reporting date.
The collapsed $16 billion Missouri project illustrates what federal permitting acceleration cannot address: local opposition grounded in water supply, noise, traffic and property values. Economic development arguments did not hold. For more on how fragmented state-level AI policy is creating uneven outcomes for technology companies, that pattern extends well beyond Missouri.
The Legislative Gap
Missouri’s 2026 legislative session ended without passing AI-specific regulations covering data centers, according to local reporting. The next opportunity is January 2027.
Evergy still needs $5.3 billion and plans to keep coal plants running longer than previously scheduled. The large-load tariff structure protects residential bills at the point of interconnection. It does not resolve what kind of grid Missouri is building, or who decides.
