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Evergy files resource plan for new gas and solar generation

Power plant regulations that were announced by the Environmental Protection Agency in April are not accounted for in the 2024 plan.
Evergy files resource plan for new gas and solar generation

Evergy filed its triennial Integrated Resource Plan with the Kansas Corporation Commission, and economic growth helped drive the addition of 1900 MW in the companywide resource plan compared to 2023.

“In Kansas and Missouri, economic development was the biggest driver of change to our short- and long-term generation plans. We will grow our diverse energy portfolio by adding renewable and dispatchable resources to meet customers’ needs,” David Campbell, Evergy chairman, president and chief executive officer, said.

The plan maps out the approach to meeting customer electricity needs over the next 20 years.

In the first five years, Evergy’s companywide plan includes 143 MW of natural gas generation added to Evergy’s portfolio in 2024 and the addition of 600 MW of solar energy in 2027 and 450 MW in 2028.  

Over the next 20 years, Evergy projects it will need to add 5,100 MW of renewable energy from wind and solar and 6,000 MW of firm, dispatchable generation – including 2,500 MW of new, hydrogen-capable natural gas generation across 2029-2032 – as its service area is experiencing record-setting economic development.

The 2024 plan includes 1,900 MW of additional generation over what was anticipated in its 2023 update filing. Additions were driven by economic growth in Evergy’s service area and increased capacity requirements established by the Southwest Power Pool. The company’s 2024 plan calls for the retirement of more than 4,500 MW of coal-based generation and the continued growth of demand-side programs over that period.

Credit: Evergy

Power plant regulations that were announced by the Environmental Protection Agency in April are not accounted for in the 2024 plan. Evergy updates its integrated resource plan annually to integrate changing factors like regulations, demand growth, construction cost estimates and commodity price forecasts.

Evergy currently serves its customers with a generation portfolio that includes approximately 4,600 MW of renewable energy. Later this year, the company expects to surpass a milestone of generating 150 million MWh of wind energy since the inception of its wind portfolio in the early 2000s. To date the company has retired 2,400 MW of fossil-fuel generation. 

Today, almost half of the power generated by Evergy comes from emission-free sources, including the Wolf Creek nuclear plant and renewable energy sources. The company has reduced its carbon emissions by more than 50% since 2005, progressing towards the interim goal of a 70% reduction in owned generation carbon emissions from 2005 levels by 2030. Evergy is targeting to achieve net-zero carbon equivalent emissions, for scope 1 and 2, by 2045 through the transition of its generation fleet. Achieving these emissions reductions is expected to be dependent on enabling technologies and supportive policies and regulations, among other external factors, Evergy said,