Kansas utility Evergy on Monday formalized plans to build a pair of new natural gas plants in the state, citing the need to supply power to serve surging economic growth there as well as in neighboring Missouri.
The utility, which has set a 2045 goal for achieving net-zero carbon emissions, said the 705-megawatt plants in southern and central Kansas would begin operations in 2029 and 2030 at an estimated cost of $1 billion apiece. The plants are expected to run for at least the next 40 years.
The projects are among a growing number of new gas plants announced nationwide to help meet growing electricity demand from new manufacturing plants and data centers. The rising demand coupled with the retirement of aging coal plants has utilities looking to new gas projects despite EPA’s power plant rule, which requires new gas plants to capture most carbon emissions or run less than 40 percent of the time.
Evergy executives, who announced the plants in separate news conferences, declined to be interviewed, but a utility spokesperson said the company has no plan to include carbon capture technology.