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Evergy Plans to Build Second Substation, Provide Additional Power to Panasonic Factory

Evergy proposed plans to rezone Astra Enterprise Park land for industrial use. Photo courtesy of Panasonic.

Posted February 20, 2024

Evergy Inc. plans to build a second substation to power the Panasonic electric-vehicle battery factory and additional industrial space in De Soto.

The De Soto City Council voted unanimously to rezone 53.18 acres of agricultural land into industrial land to construct a substation on the Atlantic Easement of Astra Enterprise Park, according to a De Soto City Council document. 

The substation would provide 345 kilovolts of power to the area and located south of the $4 billion Panasonic EV factory.

Sunflower Redevelopment Group has leased the site to Evergy for the purpose of building the substation and is supportive of the re-zoning.

The Panasonic EV factory already has a substation located closer to the building designated the Pacific substation. While the new Atlantic substation will power the factory to full capacity, it will only need 200-250 megawatts of power. Additional power generated by the substation will be used to power future projects in the area.