Evergy wants more power plants in Kansas and Missouri

Evergy filed the application with the Kansas Corporation Commission on Aug. 31, and the docket was opened Sept. 1. The utility’s request focuses on five total assets at three sites.

“On the Kansas side, we have filed notice for an upcoming predetermination application which is planned to include three generation assets: a new natural gas plant, a solar farm and a battery storage facility,” Campbell said.

The Hutchinson News reported the application covers five total assets in three locations:

● A combined-cycle gas natural gas turbine facility near Frazier in Buchanan County, Missouri, that would be 100% owned by Evergy Kansas Central. It would be called the Buchanan Bluffs Energy Center Unit 1.

● A solar generating facility near Parsons in Labette County, Kansas. There would also be a battery energy storage system, or BESS, near the Parsons solar facility. Both the solar farm and the battery system would be owned 50% by Evergy Kansas Central and 50% by Evergy Kansas Metro. They would be known as the Iron Horse Energy Center and Iron Horse Storage.

● Another solar facility plus another battery system in Barber County, Kansas. They would be owned 100% by Evergy Kansas Central. They would be known as Pixley II Hybrid and Pixley Energy Storage.

As the newspaper stated, “The case before the KCC allows regulators to predetermine ratemaking principles, which could allow Evergy to charge higher electric rates during the construction process to pay for the construction. The process was established by lawmakers and the governor in 2024 after Evergy argued it would ultimately save customers money on financing and interest costs. Filings indicate Evergy wants the natural gas plant to follow that process, having customers pay a construction work in progress rider on their electric bills until the investment is incorporated into base rates. Evergy already has CWIP rider approved for two other gas plants that are being built. Ron Klote, the senior director of regulatory affairs, said the estimated impact of the gas plant CWIP rider on customer bills would be between 1.22% and 4.85% compared to current rates. When the power plant goes into service, Klote said, the “all-in bill impact” is estimated to be 8.93%.”

Evergy’s latest request comes a year after the KCC approved three new generation facilities including two combined cycle natural gas plants near Hutchinson and Wellington, each cost about $1.6 billion.

Campbell called Kansas and Missouri “premier destinations for data center customers.” Evergy provides electricity to most of the eastern half of Kansas and much of western Missouri. Campbell touted five executed energy service agreements for “data center projects under our LLPS tariffs, securing the strong protections that the tariff requires for current customers.”

Only two of those five are in Kansas, with developers Beale Infrastructure and Digital Realty. The other three are in Missouri, with one from Meta and two from Google.