Evergy signs a 1.4 GW letter of intent with Digital Realty

Evergy has signed a letter of intent with Digital Realty for a 1.4-gigawatt expansion, the Kansas City, Mo., utility said on Nov. 5 with its third-quarter results. It also signed amendments to three existing electric service agreements that it expects to add about 250 megawatts of load.

Evergy's release lists the letter separately from the three signed amendments and gives no site, start date or state for the project. The quarterly report Evergy filed the same day does not mention Digital Realty or the letter at all.

Evergy's utilities have already signed electric service agreements this year with several large customers to serve data centers with a projected peak steady-state load of about 2,600 megawatts. The agreements cover three new projects and the expansion of two projects announced earlier.

Service under those agreements has started or is due to start between 2026 and 2028. That timing includes an optional transition period of up to five years, during which a customer's load can ramp up.

The signed contracts carry minimum payments. At Sept. 30, Evergy reported $8.9bn of remaining contractual minimum consideration from large-load customers, with a weighted average remaining term of 15 years. The figure covers customers, mainly large loads expected to exceed 75 megawatts, whose contracts run longer than a year.

The minimums typically equal 80% of a customer's expected annual capacity demand, according to the filing. They exclude charges that vary with usage, such as fuel cost recovery, and assume today's large-load rates stay in place.

Evergy Kansas Central accounts for more than half of the total, with $4.8bn of minimums over a weighted 14 years. Evergy Metro reported $2.3bn over 16 years. Other parts of the group account for about $1.8bn* more.

The 10-Q does not mention the three amendments announced on Nov. 5, and neither document says whether their 250 megawatts are already counted in the 2,600-megawatt total.

Digital Realty said in June that it had bought about 1,440 acres at Astra Enterprise Park near Kansas City and signed an energy service agreement with the local utility for 600 megawatts by early 2028, rising to 2 gigawatts at full delivery. Its third-quarter 10-Q puts the land price at $482m, paid in cash and operating partnership units. Evergy's Nov. 5 disclosures do not say whether the new expansion is on that land.

In November 2025 the Kansas Corporation Commission approved Evergy's large-load rate plan for new or expanding customers of 75 megawatts or more. Customers sign for at least 12 years, plus a ramp of up to five, and pay a monthly minimum based on 80% of contract demand whatever they use. They post collateral equal to two years of minimum bills, and a customer that leaves early owes every minimum bill left on the contract.

In October, Evergy Kansas Central and Evergy Metro asked the commission to approve a Customer Affordability Enhancement Plan that would sit on top of the existing large-load plan and apply to newly signed customers. The utilities say it would further separate the costs that future large loads are responsible for. They asked for expedited treatment and an order in February 2027.

Evergy is also lining up new generation. In September it asked Kansas regulators to approve the ratemaking treatment for a planned portfolio led by Buchanan Bluffs Energy Center Unit 1, a 710-megawatt combined-cycle gas plant in Buchanan County, Mo., due in 2031, plus solar and battery projects in Labette and Barber counties in Kansas. It expects a decision in April 2027.

Evergy earned $2.59 a share in the third quarter, up from $2.03 a year earlier, and raised its 2026 adjusted earnings guidance to $4.35 to $4.50 a share from $4.14 to $4.34. The release lists higher large-customer revenue among the drivers of the quarter, and the 10-Q says a data-center customer began taking service this year.

* Rackline estimate, calculated from the $8.9bn total for Evergy less the $4.8bn for Evergy Kansas Central and $2.3bn for Evergy Metro in Evergy's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2026.