Kansas: data centers & your electric bill
As of October 1, 2026, AI GridWatch tracks 19 data center moratoriums or pushback actions in Kansas: 14 in force, 3 proposed, 2 expired, rejected or rescinded. The state has 22 tracked data center facilities using an estimated 0.4 TWh of electricity a year.
Everything GridWatch tracks in Kansas on one page — proposed projects, moratoriums, permits, officials, and the 2026 ballot.
Subscribe by RSS — moratorium changes and community headlines for Kansas.
As of July 2026 (3m ago) · changes over months · Source: U.S. Data Center Power Map by State — ElectricChoice.com compilation (updated July 2026; CC-BY 4.0). Underlying load research: LBNL 2024 US Data Center Energy Usage Report; rates: EIA
Facility counts vary by directory because each one draws the boundary differently — DataCenterMap lists 44 in Alabama where this table says 35, since it counts small network rooms alongside hyperscale campuses. Cite the TWh figure rather than the facility count when you can; it is the number that speaks to grid impact. Underlying load research is LBNL-2001637 (Dec 2024).
1Proposed data centers in Kansas (3)
3 still live · 0 decided or withdrawn. Each name links to the full dossier — ownership, intelligence log, and where to read the paper trail.
| Project | Where | Size | Behind it | Stage | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Astra data center campus (Digital Realty) | De Soto (Johnson County) | 600 MW | Digital Realty | In review | Source read 2026-08-08 |
| Compass Wakarusa Campus | Shawnee County (Wakarusa area, near Topeka) | 600 ac | Compass Datacenters | In review | Source |
| Project Bluestem | Tonganoxie (Leavenworth County) | 600 MW | Cloverleaf Infrastructure | In review | Source read 2026-08-14 |
2Pushback already happening in Kansas
| Where | Level | Status | Note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shawnee County | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-02-17 | 2-1: no final action on data center land use applications until Feb 17, 2027. Applications may still be filed — Compass Datacenters can resubmit — they just cannot be decided | SourceNews read 2026-08-23 |
| Sedgwick County | Local | Enactedexpires 2026-12-24 | Interim development control on data center applications, first adopted January 2026 and extended three times — to Jun 11, to Sep 11, and on Sep 2, 2026 (unanimous) through Dec 24, 2026 — while planning staff write zoning rules; commission checkpoint Dec 2 | SourceNews read 2026-09-04 |
| Lyon County | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-01-22 | Resolution 12-26: 6-month pause on new data center and battery energy storage projects, unanimous, running through Jan 22, 2027, to let the county strengthen zoning rules. A companion Resolution 13-26 pauses utility-scale solar through Dec 1, 2026. Unincorporated areas only — it does not reach Emporia's Flint Hills Digital Campus. Outlets split on the vote date between Thu Jul 23 and Fri Jul 24; Jul 23 is the Thursday | SourceNews read 2026-08-23 |
| Emporia | Local | Proposedterm not documented | Citizen initiative to ban high-impact data centers, ordered onto the Nov 2026 ballot by the Lyon County District Court after the city commission asked the court to review it. The petition followed zoning changes the commission approved earlier in 2026 that would allow data centers in the city. NOT settled: the declaratory judgment action on whether the measure is a proper subject for citizen initiative under Kansas law is still pending, and a yes vote may not take effect until it is decided. A parallel petition on battery energy storage is also before the court. Distinct from the Lyon County resolution, which covers unincorporated land only | SourceNews read 2026-08-23 |
| McPherson County | County | Enactedno end date — permanent | Resolution 2026-21; permanent ban on data centers and utility-scale battery storage in unincorporated areas. Voted 3-0. Replaced earlier moratorium from summer 2025. | SourceNews read 2026-09-06 |
| Riley County | County | Enactedexpires soon — 2026-11-12 | 6-month moratorium on data centers and battery energy storage systems through Nov 12, 2026. | SourceNews read 2026-09-06 |
| Saline County | County | Enactedexpires 2029-03-01 | 3-year moratorium on data centers, nuclear power, and hydrogen energy facilities in unincorporated areas through March 1, 2029. | SourceNews read 2026-09-06 |
| Leavenworth County | County | Expiredterm ran to 2026-08-11 | 90-day moratorium passed 4-1 re: Project Bluestem (1,000-acre hyperscale DC near Tonganoxie). Extension failed 3-2 on Aug 5. Moratorium expired ~Aug 11. Board voted 4-1 on Aug 13 to revisit a hold before new commission in January but did not formally re-enact. Community group retained attorney for legal fight. | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Topeka | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-07-14 | Unanimously approved 12-month moratorium on data centers and battery storage. Later amended to restrict utility connections both inside and outside city limits for data centers. Shawnee County (already in registry) separately approved 6-month moratorium. | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Pottawatomie County | County | Proposedterm not documented | Public hearing Aug 20 at St. Bernard Catholic Church in Wamego; 125-150 attendees; 33 speakers mostly called for moratorium. County was developing data center overlay district regulations. No moratorium enacted — county chose regulatory path instead. A petition also circulated calling for pause. | SourceNews read 2026-09-06 |
| Harvey County | County | Enactedexpires 2028-12-31 | Commission unanimously approved moratorium on data centers/crypto in unincorporated areas through end of 2028; cited concerns about water from Equus Beds Aquifer | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Kingman County | County | Enactedterm not documented | Resolution No. 2026-R9 imposing temporary moratorium on data centers in unincorporated county | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Wichita | City | Expiredterm ran to 2026-09-10 | City-level moratorium on new data center development, extended through Sep 10, 2026; separate from Sedgwick County moratorium | SourceOfficial read 2026-09-11 |
| South Hutchinson | City | Enactedexpires 2027-05-26 | One-year moratorium on large-scale data centers and battery energy storage systems; revised after original draft would have halted even small-scale container-sized data centers | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Miami County | County | Enactedfixed term, end date not recorded | Three-year moratorium restricting data centers, battery storage, and similar technologies in unincorporated areas; excludes Osawatomie's in-city Project Catalyst site | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Geary County | County | Enactedexpires 2027-06-22 | 12-month moratorium unanimously adopted; planning commission to meet monthly to discuss regulations during moratorium | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| El Dorado | City | Enactedexpires soon — 2026-11-30 | Moratorium on high-impact data centers (>10 MW or >100k gal/day water) and Tier 2/3 battery storage; enacted while city deals with citizen petition (700+ signatures) seeking permanent ban | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Lawrence | City | Enactedexpires 2028-07-14 | 24-month moratorium unanimously approved on large-scale data center development; originally proposed as 1-year, extended to 2; also initiated text amendment to land development code | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Kansas (SB 531) | State | Proposedterm not documented | Would prohibit new large-load data centers (10+ MW) in counties with drought emergency declared in preceding 3 years; referred to Senate Utilities Committee Mar 10, no further action | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
As of August 2026 (2m ago) · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
3Other Kansas communities in the news (2)
Places with archived data-center coverage but no moratorium on file. Grouped automatically from headlines and not verified — a lead worth reading, not a claim to cite.
- Marion County — 5 archived headlines
- Ottawa — 4 archived headlines
4Every data center already built in Kansas
GridWatch does not yet track a named hyperscale campus in Kansas, but that does not mean the state has none. DataCenterMap keeps a public directory of existing facilities — street addresses included — for Kansas.
Two caveats before you cite it at a hearing: it lists facilities that already exist, so a newly proposed campus will not appear; and it counts a small network room the same as a hyperscale campus, so the facility count is not a measure of power draw or community impact.
5Your regulator
Kansas Corporation Commission — website · file a complaint
Official state energy data: EIA Kansas electricity profile — generation, prices, and consumption from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
6Where the Kansas paper trail lives
Air & environmental permits: Kansas KDHE — Bureau of Air
No searchable register. Kansas does not publish a permit database you can query. A public-records request to the agency is the only route to the file.
Grid interconnection queue: Southwest Power Pool (Plains)
A routing hint only — several states are split between markets, and the serving utility is the only authority on which queue a given site is in.
These are places to look, not evidence that anything has been filed. Links were checked on 2026-08-21; search links are queries, not records.
7Your federal delegation and governor
Grades cross party — this is an issue axis, not a partisan one. A blank grade means no documented action was located, never that the official is neutral.
| Grade | Official | Documented action (sourced) | Reach them |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | Laura Kelly Democratic · Governor | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Jerry Moran Republican · Senator · next on the ballot 2028 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| A | Roger Marshall Republican · Senator · on the 2026 ballot | Introduced a resolution backing the Ratepayer Protection Pledge — tech companies pay their own grid costs — and opposes tax incentives for data centers. — Sen. Marshall applauds expansion of the Ratepayer Protection Pledge (2026) Guardrails Marshall introduced a Senate resolution backing the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, has said Kansans should not pay higher bills for data centers, opposes tax incentives for them, and supports the county moratoriums in Kansas. sources | site · contact |
| — | Tracey Mann Republican · Representative 1 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Derek Schmidt Republican · Representative 2 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Sharice Davids Democratic · Representative 3 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Ron Estes Republican · Representative 4 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
Roster: regenerated by scripts/refresh_officials.py (Senate XML + congress-legislators + current governors).
Write to your senators → Your senators in detail → Full officials scorecard → Find your state legislators →
82026 U.S. Senate race
PVI R+8 · Seat held by Roger Marshall (Republican) · Incumbent renominated
Adam Hamilton (Democratic) No record found
No documented statement or action on data centers located. Not scored — see how this page treats silence.
Roger Marshall (Republican) · incumbent No record found
No documented statement or action on data centers located. Not scored — see how this page treats silence.
Tech & utility PAC money: $16,500 from 5 committees (FEC, cycle 2026, pulled 2026-08-26) — FEC record
Ballot roster: state candidate list (read 2026-08-25).
92026 U.S. House races in Kansas (4)
A documented data-center record exists in 4 of 4 districts. A candidate with no badge colour has said nothing we could locate — that is a gap in the record, not a neutral position. ★ marks an incumbent.
| District | PVI | Incumbent | Candidates |
|---|---|---|---|
| KS-1 | R+16 | Tracey Mann | Lauren Reinhold Tracey Mann ★ |
| KS-2 | R+10 | Derek Schmidt | Derek Schmidt ★ Don Coover |
| KS-3 | D+2 | Sharice Davids | Sharice Davids ★ Eric Jenkins |
| KS-4 | R+12 | Ron Estes | Ron Estes ★ Katy Tyndell |
The documented records (4 districts)
KS-1
Lauren Reinhold (Democratic) Guardrails
Supports community-approved projects with transparency, opposes tax breaks for data centers
- Statement supporting community-approved projects with transparency and opposing tax breaks for data centers; 'there is no one-size-fits-all approach for this district' (2026-09-11 — source)
Record read 2026-09-11.
Tracey Mann (Republican) · incumbent Consensus vote only
On the record only for voting yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act (417-3). No other data-center record located yet.
- Voted yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed 417-3 (roll call 312). It directs state utility commissions to consider rate designs making data centers with 100 MW or more of peak demand at one site pay the full incremental cost of the generation and grid upgrades they require. A near-unanimous vote: shown on the record, not scored on its own. (2026-09-16 — source)
Record read 2026-09-22.
KS-2
Derek Schmidt (Republican) · incumbent Mixed
Conditionally supportive; advises communities that developers should not get tax abatements and should use new power sources and closed water systems
- Town hall advice: data center developers should not require tax abatements, should source power from new sources to avoid raising local utility costs, and modern data centers can use closed systems with minimal water (2026-06-10 — source)
- Voted yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed 417-3 (roll call 312). It directs state utility commissions to consider rate designs making data centers with 100 MW or more of peak demand at one site pay the full incremental cost of the generation and grid upgrades they require. A near-unanimous vote: shown on the record, not scored on its own. (2026-09-16 — source)
Record read 2026-09-11.
KS-3
Sharice Davids (Democratic) · incumbent Guardrails
No data center should move forward if it raises costs, wastes water, or shifts the burden onto Kansas communities
- Statement: 'no data center should move forward if it raises electricity costs for families, wastes our limited water resources, or shifts the burden onto Kansas communities' (2026-09-11 — source)
- Voted yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed 417-3 (roll call 312). It directs state utility commissions to consider rate designs making data centers with 100 MW or more of peak demand at one site pay the full incremental cost of the generation and grid upgrades they require. A near-unanimous vote: shown on the record, not scored on its own. (2026-09-16 — source)
Record read 2026-09-11.
KS-4
Ron Estes (Republican) · incumbent Consensus vote only
On the record only for voting yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act (417-3). No other data-center record located yet.
- Voted yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed 417-3 (roll call 312). It directs state utility commissions to consider rate designs making data centers with 100 MW or more of peak demand at one site pay the full incremental cost of the generation and grid upgrades they require. A near-unanimous vote: shown on the record, not scored on its own. (2026-09-16 — source)
Record read 2026-09-22.
10Latest Kansas data center news
No Kansas data-center headlines in this week's national scan — local coverage often runs ahead of it.
A data center was proposed near you?
The free toolkit walks you through it in five steps: who's really behind the LLC, what it costs your community, what to do this week, and a downloadable action pack — speech, letters, flyer, and CBA targets included.
State municipal league: League of Kansas Municipalities