Residents and experts warn Compass data center could strain grid, raise costs

A large group of non‑agenda public commenters focused the evening on proposed hyperscale data centers and a Compass conditional‑use permit under county review. Rick Tyler, who said he spent decades in the electric utility industry, told the commission the proposed data center load is "approximately 600 megawatt" and that "the total load of Shawnee County is somewhere in the area of 200 megawatts," raising questions about whether existing local transmission (a 161‑kV line) could serve that load without major reconductoring and new transmission.