Kentucky: data centers & your electric bill
As of October 1, 2026, AI GridWatch tracks 29 data center moratoriums or pushback actions in Kentucky: 29 in force. The state has 40 tracked data center facilities using an estimated 0.6 TWh of electricity a year.
Everything GridWatch tracks in Kentucky on one page — proposed projects, moratoriums, permits, officials, and the 2026 ballot.
Subscribe by RSS — moratorium changes and community headlines for Kentucky.
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 Kentucky (5)
4 still live · 1 decided or withdrawn.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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cave City data center (Kentucky Industrial Alliance) | Cave City (Barren County) | 381 ac | Kentucky Industrial Alliance LLC | Awaiting decision | Source read 2026-08-14 |
| Justified Data Campus | Hawesville (Hancock County) | 401 MW | TeraWulf | In review | Source read 2026-08-23 |
| Project Bluegrass (Panattoni) | Mercer County / Burgin | — | Panattoni Data Centers | In review | Source |
| Paducah Data Center Campus | Paducah | 1,800 MW | Brookfield | Proposed | Source read 2026-08-19 |
| Mason County hyperscale data center campus | Mason County | 2,080 ac | — | Approved | Source read 2026-08-14 |
2Pushback already happening in Kentucky
| Where | Level | Status | Note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | Local | Enactedexpires 2028-09-30 | 2-year pause passed 5-1, running to Sep 30, 2028 and extendable a further year by council | SourceNews read 2026-08-04 |
| Logan County | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-07-30 | 12-month pause in unincorporated areas, adopted specifically to study local water supply capacity against high-consumption users | SourceNews read 2026-08-04 |
| Bell County | Local | Enactedexpires 2028-07-02 | 2-year moratorium, passed unanimously by the fiscal court; halted a Murray Industries hyperscale project that had already begun clearing land along the Bell-Knox county line | SourceNews read 2026-08-11 |
| Cave City | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-05-20 | 12-month moratorium on new data centers, approved 4-1 on second reading to allow time to draft zoning language; the city was subsequently sued over the moratorium and has asked for the suit's dismissal. | SourceNews read 2026-08-12 |
| Louisville | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-02-13 | 6-month moratorium passed by Metro Council. Advanced by P&Z Committee 7-1 on Aug 4. Originally proposed Sep 2025 after a 1.6M sq ft hyperscale was approved with little public input | SourceNews read 2026-08-13 |
| Daviess County | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-05-28 | 12-month moratorium, unanimous. Triggered by hyperscale data center planned at idled aluminum mill in neighboring Hancock County | SourceNews read 2026-08-13 |
| Lexington (Fayette County) | Local | Enactedexpires soon — 2026-10-31 | Moratorium on permits, development plans, and zone changes, unanimous. Expires Oct 31; Planning Division drafting Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment proposals | SourceNews read 2026-08-13 |
| Allen County | Local | Enactedexpires 2028-06-10 | 2-year moratorium (Ord. 26-03). Proactive — Judge-Executive observed 'headaches' in nearby Simpson County with hyperscale proposal | SourceNews read 2026-08-13 |
| Mercer County | Local | Enactedfixed term, end date not recorded | 1-year moratorium in unincorporated areas, unanimous. Does NOT apply to City of Burgin, which is pursuing annexation to accommodate a proposed hyperscale data center. Grassroots group 'We Are Mercer County' active | SourceNews read 2026-08-13 |
| Jessamine County | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-08-04 | 12-month moratorium. Proactive — no data center development inquiries had been made in the county at time of vote | SourceNews read 2026-08-13 |
| Nicholasville | Local | Enactedfixed term, end date not recorded | 6-month moratorium while the commission drafts sound limits and water/electrical capacity filing rules. No data center application has been filed; coverage does not record the vote date, so the end date is not derivable | SourceNews read 2026-08-23 |
| Lyon County | Local | Enactedfixed term, end date not recorded | Data center moratorium ordinance passed unanimously by the fiscal court, which will form a committee on environmental impact and utility use; reported as delaying inquiries for up to two years, modelled on Allen County's 2-year ordinance. Magistrates and Judge-Executive Jaime Green-Smith said the Lake Barkley area may be unsuitable for a data center. No outlet gave the vote date or an end date, so none is recorded here | SourceNews read 2026-08-23 |
| Bullitt County | County | Enactedexpires 2027-07-16 | 12-month moratorium on data centers in unincorporated areas; can be terminated or extended by Fiscal Court. | SourceNews read 2026-09-06 |
| Oldham County | County | Enactedno fixed end — runs until a condition is met | 150-day moratorium voted 4-2; extended Nov 18, 2025 indefinitely until regulations are adopted. Driven by opposition to Western Hospitality Partners $6B 'Project Lincoln'. | SourceNews read 2026-09-06 |
| Woodford County | County | Enactedno end date — permanent | Fiscal court permanently bans data centers, landfills, and large battery storage; first permanent DC ban in Kentucky. | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Versailles | City | Enactedexpires 2026-12-31 | City council unanimously enacts moratorium on data centers through Dec 31, 2026; Woodford County seat. | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Boyle County | County | Enactedexpires 2027-06-09 | Fiscal court approves one-year moratorium halting acceptance of DC applications in unincorporated areas. | SourceOfficial read 2026-09-11 |
| Boyd County | County | Enactedexpires 2027-01-09 | Fiscal court approves six-month moratorium on new DC construction; exempts EastPark Industrial Park (planned TeraWulf Muskie Data Campus). | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Scott County | County | Enactedfixed term, end date not recorded | Fiscal court approved a six-month moratorium to allow time for siting ordinance and zoning changes; extended Jun 25 through the end of 2026, then on Sep 24, 2026 extended again to March 2027 (exact end date not recorded). | SourceNews read 2026-09-29 |
| Georgetown | City | Enactedexpires 2026-12-31 | City council backs moratorium on data centers through end of year; directs Georgetown-Scott County Planning Commission to recommend zoning regulations. | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Boone County | County | Enactedexpires 2027-06-15 | Board of Commissioners unanimously approves one-year moratorium on new DC development in unincorporated areas. | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Shelby County | County | Enactedexpires 2026-12-31 | Fiscal court implements temporary moratorium on new data centers through Dec 31, 2026; assessing impacts on infrastructure, water, and emergency services. | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Butler County | County | Enactedexpires 2027-06-26 | Fiscal court approves one-year moratorium; no DCs currently proposed. | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Edmonson County | County | Enactedexpires 2027-06-08 | Fiscal court adopts Ordinance EC26-18 halting all DC, AI, and crypto mining development; covers all high-intensity computing facilities. | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Rowan County | County | Enactedfixed term, end date not recorded | Fiscal court unanimously passes two-year moratorium on large-scale DC development; county has no zoning regulations. | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Winchester | City | Enactedexpires 2027-09-02 | Board of Commissioners unanimously approves one-year moratorium; applies within city limits only (not Clark County). | SourceRoundup read 2026-09-11 |
| Clark County | County | Enactedfixed term, end date not recorded | County commissioners approve one-year moratorium on DC construction in unincorporated county; Winchester (county seat) passed its own moratorium separately. | SourceRoundup read 2026-09-11 |
| Nelson County | County | Enactedfixed term, end date not recorded | Fiscal court passes one-year moratorium on acceptance, processing, and approval of all DC applications. | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Grant County | County | Enactedexpires 2028-03-02 | Board of Commissioners passes 24-month moratorium on data center construction. | 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.
3Every data center already built in Kentucky
GridWatch does not yet track a named hyperscale campus in Kentucky, but that does not mean the state has none. DataCenterMap keeps a public directory of existing facilities — street addresses included — for Kentucky.
Browse the Kentucky directory →
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.
4Your regulator
Kentucky Public Service Commission — website · file a complaint
Official state energy data: EIA Kentucky electricity profile — generation, prices, and consumption from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
5Where the Kentucky paper trail lives
Air & environmental permits: Kentucky Division for Air Quality
No searchable register. Kentucky 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: MISO (Midwest & Gulf) · PJM Interconnection (Mid-Atlantic, Ohio Valley)
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.
6Your 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | Andy Beshear Democratic · Governor | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Mitch McConnell Republican · Senator · on the 2026 ballot | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Rand Paul Republican · Senator · next on the ballot 2028 | No documented action on data centers located Guardrails Paul has said neither the federal government nor the governor should regulate where data centers go and that each county should decide for itself. sources | site · contact |
| — | James Comer Republican · Representative 1 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| A | Brett Guthrie Republican · Representative 2 | As Energy & Commerce chairman, moved the Ratepayer Protection Act through committee to a 417-3 House vote (Sep 2026) — states must consider making 100 MW+ data centers pay their own grid costs. — House passes H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, 417-3 (Sep 16, 2026) | site · contact |
| — | Morgan McGarvey Democratic · Representative 3 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Thomas Massie Republican · Representative 4 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Harold Rogers Republican · Representative 5 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Andy Barr Republican · Representative 6 | 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 →
72026 U.S. Senate race
PVI R+15 · Seat held by Mitch McConnell (Republican) · Incumbent retiring
Andy Barr (Republican) No record found
No documented statement or action on data centers located. Not scored — see how this page treats silence.
Tech & utility PAC money: $30,000 from 5 committees (FEC, cycle 2026, pulled 2026-08-26) — FEC record
Charles Booker (Democratic) No record found
No documented statement or action on data centers located. Not scored — see how this page treats silence.
Ballot roster: state candidate list (read 2026-08-25).
82026 U.S. House races in Kentucky (6)
A documented data-center record exists in 4 of 6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| KY-1 | R+23 | James Comer | James Comer ★ Drew Williams |
| KY-2 | R+20 | Brett Guthrie | Brett Guthrie ★ Megan Wingfield Thomas Loecken |
| KY-3 | D+10 | Morgan McGarvey | Morgan McGarvey ★ Maria Rodriquez |
| KY-4 | R+18 | Thomas Massie | Ed Gallrein Melissa Strange Jeremy Todd Mohammad Wael Ahmad |
| KY-5 | R+32 | Hal Rogers | Hal Rogers ★ Ned Pillersdorf Gerardo Serrano Mikel Wein |
| KY-6 | R+7 | Andy Barr | Ralph Alvarado Zach Dembo Jay Bowman Pete Lynch |
The documented records (4 districts)
KY-1
James Comer (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.
KY-2
Brett Guthrie (Republican) · incumbent Accelerate
As House Energy and Commerce Chair, champions AI data center expansion and energy permitting reform; called for FBI investigation of foreign influence in anti-DC opposition.
- Published op-ed in Washington Times arguing for expanded energy production to power AI data centers, calling for permitting reform and warning about China competition. (2025-03-26 — source)
- Signed letter with Reps. Joyce and Latta to PCAST and FBI Director requesting investigations into foreign influence campaigns targeting AI and data center opposition. (2026-06-11 — source)
- Stated "We can't have a moratorium that would cripple us" while acknowledging local communities should have a say; said data centers must "pay their own way." (2026-06-30 — 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.
KY-3
Morgan McGarvey (Democratic) · incumbent Guardrails
Declared himself "absolutely opposed" to hyperscale data centers in Kentucky and sent letter to LG&E opposing Camp Ground Road data center and demanding ratepayer protections.
- Sent letter to LG&E President opposing Camp Ground Road hyperscale data center in Louisville, demanding ratepayer protections; cited 63% increase in electricity demand (400 MW). (2026-07-09 — source)
- Declared himself "absolutely opposed" to in-state hyperscale data centers at Louisville town hall on AI data centers; said residents should control what gets built in their community. (2026-07-09 — 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.
KY-5
Hal Rogers (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.
9Latest Kentucky data center news
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: Kentucky League of Cities