Evergy Books 3 GW of Data Center Load as Utilities Race to Secure Gas Turbines
Evergy's 3 GW of data center deals, combined with AEP's turbine bookings and NRG's Texas gas plant, signals sustained US gas-fired generation demand into the 2030s.
Evergy has executed electric service agreements covering 2.5 gigawatts of data center load under its large-load power service tariff, with a further 500 megawatts of smaller customer agreements falling outside that tariff, utility executives said Friday (2026-08-07) on the company's second-quarter earnings call.3,4 The combined 3 GW lands on a utility serving Kansas and Missouri, a scale of incremental demand that most mid-continent utilities have not planned for.
Dispatchable gas generation is how utilities bridge the gap between intermittent renewable output and the steady draw of server farms. The Evergy agreements arrive as rival utilities have already begun converting hyperscaler interest into turbine procurement. American Electric Power added 3 GW of gas turbine supply in the second quarter alone, its chairman and CEO Bill Fehrman said Thursday (2026-07-30) on a quarterly earnings call, bringing AEP's total secured turbine capacity deployable by 2031 to about 13 GW.3
NRG Energy said Tuesday (2026-08-04) it was aligned on principal commercial terms with an unnamed global cloud and AI hyperscaler for a 1.2-gigawatt combined-cycle natural gas plant in Texas.4 Duke Energy has separately proposed special tariff rules for data centers in North Carolina, underscoring that large-load management is reshaping utility regulatory strategy well beyond the Midwest.2
Across Evergy, AEP and NRG alone, the contracted pipeline of gas-fired capacity tied to data center load now spans tens of gigawatts, based on publicly disclosed figures.3,4 None comes online immediately. Utility large-load tariffs require regulatory approval, and new turbine capacity takes years to permit, build and commission. But the agreements are firm enough to anchor generation planning and gas procurement discussions well before 2030.3,4
Supply growth is running in parallel. Lower 48 marketed natural gas production averaged 117.2 Bcf/d in the first quarter of 2026, 4% above the same period a year earlier, EIA data show.1 More than 2,020 billion cubic feet was withdrawn from storage over the 2025-26 winter heating season, according to EIA estimates, trimming the supply buffer entering the injection period.1 The EIA still forecasts a 3% full-year production increase, with growth concentrated in the second half of the year.1
Permian Basin output drives most of that projection. EIA forecasts the region at 29.2 Bcf/d in 2026, 6% above 2025, with current infrastructure constraints expected to ease later this year before a further 10% expansion in 2027.1 Haynesville production, more sensitive to domestic prices, is forecast to grow 6% this year and 8% in 2027.1
NYMEX Henry Hub front-month gas closed Wednesday (2026-08-12) at $2.75 per million British thermal units, reflecting a supply-heavy posture that EIA production forecasts broadly support.1 Yet those forecasts predate the current round of utility earnings calls, which are adding multi-gigawatt data center commitments to regional grids that have not yet secured the generation needed to serve them.3,4
The Evergy 3 GW figure covers signed agreements, not metered load.3 How quickly data center developers break ground, clear permits and begin drawing power is what neither EIA base-case supply forecasts nor the prevailing gas consensus has fully absorbed — and successive quarters of utility reporting will either validate or erode that gap.