AI demand has reached the stage where coal retirement dates are suddenly negotiable. Who gets handed that bill? Before we get to today’s development, Evergy came into the week with signed agreements for 3 GW of data-center load across Kansas and Missouri, including 2.5 GW under its large-load power service tariff. It still had to answer how it would secure enough dispatchable capacity, especially gas turbines, to serve AI demand into the 2030s without turning interconnection certainty into a reliability problem or sticking ratepayers with the cost. This is The Data Center Daily. Today: Evergy coal extensions, PJM reform, and grid software promising extra capacity. Same expensive question running through all of it: who pays when the load shows up? We'll keep tracking this story — Evergy data-center load and gas capacity. Follow the show so the next update finds you. Latitude Media, with Maeve Allsup:
The utility Evergy is asking the Kansas Corporation Commission and the Missouri Public Service Commission for permission to delay the retirement or conversion of around 2.8 gigawatts of coal plants across the states by at least five years. Additionally, Evergy plans to build 5 GW of new generation, including 3.9 GW of natural gas.
Evergy wants the Kansas and Missouri commissions to keep 2.8 gigawatts of coal online for at least five extra years while building 3.9 gigawatts of gas. That’s the AI power stack: coal plants that were meant to retire, plus more combustion. Evergy’s data-center contracts now come with a request to keep 2.8 GW of coal around longer. Latitude says more than 2 GW of data-center deals are signed under Evergy’s large-load tariffs, and Google’s 710 MW Kansas City contract is specifically named. And the commissions should make Evergy spell out the bill. If these coal units stay open to serve Google-scale load, does the tariff recover the carrying cost, or do ordinary Kansas and Missouri customers get handed the backup tab? Put that in the rate-case language. A pipeline slide is one thing; an executed service agreement is another. The filing says the path has become more certain, and the measurable consequence is a 2.8-GW coal-retirement delay. Here's Federal Register:
Pursuant to section 385.601(a) of the Commission's regulations, commencing on September 1, 2026, the Director of Dispute Resolution Services (DRS) will convene a forum to facilitate interest-based discussions on proposed reforms to PJM's governance and stakeholder processes. The objective of the forum is to gather feedback from PJM members and stakeholders, identify areas of consensus and divergence, and evaluate actionable reforms to inform a future filing.
FERC has put dates on PJM’s governance fight: post-conference comments close August 21, then its dispute-resolution staff convenes the reform forum September 1. A forum to inform a future filing—efficiently indirect, but at least it has dates. Good. Put the July 22 load-drop data on that table. More than 3 gigawatts of data-center load fell off PJM during that fault; stakeholders should be debating ride-through obligations before they approve another giant load request. Evergy’s filing makes this feel a lot less procedural. Large-load contracts are changing generation plans in commission dockets, and PJM’s stakeholder machinery has until August 21 to show it can move faster than committee speed. September 1 is the test. If the forum produces another consensus memo while the queue stays jammed, grid operators get paperwork and everybody else gets the risk. Utility Dive writes:
Utility Dive has spotlighted OATI PowerNow, an initiative designed to help utilities and grid operators unlock 10–20% more transmission capacity from existing infrastructure. The article arrives as data centers, domestic manufacturing, electrification, and other large loads intensify demand for new grid capacity.
OATI says PowerNow can unlock 10 to 20% more capacity from wires already in service. It uses dynamic line ratings, near-real-time coordination, and AI dispatch. Useful? Potentially. It doesn’t build new transmission. A 100-to-200% shift on one constrained line can sound spectacular. Then ask whether that headroom survives the contingency standard on a hot August afternoon. Operators can’t interconnect a 300-megawatt load on a software demo. Exactly. What matters is capacity that clears reliability review, not a theoretical figure after a rating limit changes. OATI is pointing to a real operational tool; the queue needs a number it can bank on. PJM’s dates are August 21 for comments and September 1 for the forum. Put dynamic ratings and redispatch into the interconnection rules, or they remain a very elegant way to admire the same congested wire. Financial Standard, with Vinny Vucago:
Centuria Capital Group and AI infrastructure business ResetData have partnered with CDC Data Centres to develop AI data centre infrastructure. The entities have secured new power capacity and $165 million in GPU financing. Centuria, which holds a 50% interest in ResetData, said the developments build on initiatives outlined during its June 2026 equity raising and are intended to support the next stage of business.
Centuria and ResetData have a signed 7-megawatt services agreement with CDC. The jump to 10 megawatts is an LOI, though, so keep those two numbers separate. Then there’s 72 megawatts of dedicated generation units due in 2028, plus a $165 million senior bridge facility for GPUs. Very different timelines and assets, all bundled into one ambitious sentence. The build right now is seven megawatts. The 72-megawatt power equipment arrives in 2028. Calling that a two-year acceleration depends on sites, fuel, interconnection, and operating permits all cooperating—which is a fairly crowded ‘if.’ Credit where it’s due: an executed CDC agreement and executed GPU-financing documents carry more weight than a slide deck. But revenue is only targeted for the second half of FY27, and the expansion still depends on demand turning into contracted capacity. CVC writes:
CVC DIF, the infrastructure business of leading global private markets manager CVC, has agreed to acquire a significant majority stake in firstcolo Holding GmbH (“firstcolo”), a leading Frankfurt-based colocation data centre operator, from Cube Infrastructure Managers. The investment will be made through DIF Value Add IV and is expected to close by the end of September 2026, subject to customary conditions.
CVC DIF is buying into a Frankfurt operator with two near-full data centers and more than 350 enterprise customers. It starts with 24 MW at FRA7. That’s an actual operating platform, not a render with a heroic adjective. The deal structure is clear: a significant majority stake through DIF Value Add IV, with closing expected by the end of September. Frankfurt supply is constrained, so 24 MW there carries more strategic weight than a much larger speculative campus elsewhere. Two facilities are already near utilization, so CVC gets the customer base, the Frankfurt footprint, and a growth project with a very specific 24-megawatt first step. Compared with the Australian item we just covered, the key point here is that 24 MW of development, two operating sites, and more than 350 customers all sit in the same business. Got feedback, a story idea, or a correction? Email us at datacenterdaily at lantern podcasts dot com. Your notes help us make The Data Center Daily better.
Looking ahead: post-conference comments in FERC’s PJM governance docket are due August 21. FERC’s Director of Dispute Resolution Services is scheduled to convene the PJM governance reform forum beginning September 1. CVC DIF expects the firstcolo acquisition to close by the end of September, subject to customary conditions.
Links to every story are in the show notes if you want to go deeper. That’s The Data Center Daily for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.