Independence, Mo., to Reopen Old Power Plant for AI Data Center
Independence, Mo., to Reopen Old Power Plant for AI Data Center
Publish Date: 2026-01-28 12:14:00
Source Domain: www.govtech.com
(TNS) — With a massive artificial intelligence data center set to open in Independence, the city will reopen and majorly expand the capacity of a decades-old power plant to fuel it. Until then, the city is eyeing four separate contracts to provide enough energy to get the data center up and running.
Nebius, a European corporation that creates cloud management systems for AI, will build its third — and largest — American data center in the city, with construction starting later this year.
The massive construction project will take over a significant portion of the Eastgate Commerce Center, an industrial park off of Little Blue Parkway and Missouri Highway 78 — but it’ll need a power source big enough to keep up with its work.
The $6.6 billion, 400-acre data center campus will go up alongside another massive city project — the reopening of a rebuilt and hugely expanded Blue Valley Power Plant, once a major industrial hub for Independence. The natural gas-fueled power plant will utilize 15 turbines in its first phase alone, which will generate about a quarter of the power eventually needed to support the AI data center.
Until the Blue Valley plant reopens next year, NextEra and Evergy will both provide power to the data center site.
Councilmember Bridget McCandless described the city’s energy agreements with Nebius as “a little complicated.” City officials began negotiating an agreement with Nebius for power services to the data center in mid-2025, city documents read.
The city’s contract says it will provide Nebius access to energy starting in 2026, but the Blue Valley power plant won’t reopen until October 2027.
A stopgap plan
Before the expanded power plant reopens, Independence is contracting with third-party energy providers to supply Nebius starting in June and going through October 2027, according to Interim City Manager Lisa Reynolds.
The plant will use up to 800 megawatts of…
