Graded Moderate and tightening. 22 laws, orders, rulings and local actions, each with its source, reviewed 23 October 2026.
EKPC Rate DCP (30 Oct 2025) takes a six-month deposit and needs dedicated resources above 250 MW; LG&E/KU EHLF adds long contracts, no own-power mandate.
Rate EHLF (16 Feb 2026) and Rate DCP carry minimum revenue payments, collateral and deposits; the Aug 2026 governor's order on cost shifting has no penalties.
About 30 local pauses or bans as of 22 Oct 2026 include Louisville (Aug 2026), Lexington to Oct 2027 and a Woodford County ban, so both main metros are shut.
HB 775 (2025) extends the equipment sales tax exemption to every county for up to 50 years; the Aug 2026 order only asks projects not to avoid local taxes.
The 6 Aug 2026 executive order requires an energy plan filing and tells the cabinet to refuse harmful permits, but states no penalties and sets no limits.
Scored on rules in force, 1 to 5. 5 is the most regulated. Pending rules set the arrow.
Kentucky still recruits data centers at state level: a 2025 law extended the sales and use tax exemption on data center equipment to every county for up to 50 years, and on 13 October 2026 Mason County approved a 40-year bond and payment-in-lieu deal for Meta's roughly 3,000-acre campus near Maysville. The 2026 General Assembly passed no data center regulation after a House-passed ratepayer protection bill (HB 593) was stripped out on the last day of the session, and Gov. Beshear followed in August 2026 with an executive order requiring developers to show they will not raise other customers' bills. Cost protection otherwise sits with the Public Service Commission, which approved LG&E and KU's Extremely High Load Factor tariff in February 2026, East Kentucky Power Cooperative's data center tariff in October 2025 and a Big Rivers contract with TeraWulf in August 2026. Siting is left to local governments: Woodford County banned data centers outright in September 2026, Louisville adopted a six-month moratorium in August 2026, Lexington extended its moratorium to October 2027, and a tracker updated 22 October 2026 lists roughly 30 Kentucky local moratoria or bans in force.
Rep. Adam Moore and Rep. Josh Bray are drafting bipartisan data center bills for the 30-day 2027 session that starts in January, and a revived ratepayer protection bill and a reported 'Hyperscale Ready Community' framework for local approval are also expected. Local pauses come up for renewal through 2027: Russell's and Versailles' run to December 2026, Scott County's to March 2027, Daviess County's to about May 2027 and Lexington's to 31 October 2027, while Oldham County's moratorium stays in place until its permanent ordinance passes. Georgetown is considering an outright hyperscale ban and Hopkinsville is drafting rules. Two Simpson County cases are pending: TenKey LandCo's challenge to the county ordinance covering its self-powered Franklin campus and a residents' suit over Franklin's March 2026 plan approval.
No statewide moratorium, but 8 local pauses are in force as of 23 October 2026, in Bell County, Russell, Bullitt County, Daviess County, Allen County, Cave City, Ashland, Lexington-Fayette, Louisville Metro, Oldham County and elsewhere. Proposals and expired pauses are not counted.
Tightening. Kentucky is graded Moderate, which means incentives alongside new costs, limits or local pushback. Broad state incentives; governor's order on bills; first county ban and more moratoria. The outlook above says what is pending.
Kentucky sits in PJM and MISO and TVA. The grid operator decides how a new large load is studied, what it must bring or pay, and whether it can be curtailed first; the state decides siting, permits, tariffs and incentives.
No. Kentucky's data center incentives were not pulled back in 2025 or 2026 as of 23 October 2026.
On Genloop's five-line rubric (1 least regulated, 5 most) Kentucky scores grid connection 3, power rates 3, siting and land use 4, tax treatment 2, permits and water 2, a mean of 2.8. The most regulated line is siting and land use: About 30 local pauses or bans as of 22 Oct 2026 include Louisville (Aug 2026), Lexington to Oct 2027 and a Woodford County ban, so both main metros are shut.
22 items: each is a law, order, tariff, ruling, utility action or local decision that changes what a data center must do, pay or disclose, or where it may be built. Failed and pending measures are marked. Each links to its source.
On 13 October 2026 the Fiscal Court unanimously approved a 40-year industrial revenue bond, a development agreement and road improvements for Meta's roughly 3,000-acre campus near Maysville. The county holds title and leases the land, so Meta pays no local property tax; it instead pays $5 million a year per phase to the county and $2 million per phase to schools, rising to $30 million and $12 million at full buildout. The first phase is a single building of nearly 400 MW with a stated $10 billion to $15 billion investment; up to six buildings are zoned.
Source: baxtel.comThe Urban County Council voted 11 to 0 in the week of 6 October 2026 to extend its moratorium on new data center development, due to expire 31 October 2026, to 31 October 2027. Draft zoning changes would keep a ban on data centers over 50,000 square feet, cap energy use at 25 MW, set a 30 decibel noise limit and confine smaller facilities to industrial or a new exclusive-use zone.
Source: spectrumnews1.comA national tracker updated 22 October 2026 lists roughly 30 Kentucky local restrictions, including London through 30 September 2028, Rowan County two years, Scott County extended to March 2027 (24 September 2026), Winchester one year (1 September 2026), Logan County 12 months, Boyd County six months (EastPark exempt), Nicholasville six months, Versailles through 31 December 2026, and moratoria in Butler, Edmonson, Boyle, Breckinridge, Meade and Nelson counties.
Source: programs.comKentucky Lantern reported on 15 October 2026 that Rep. Adam Moore (D-Lexington) and Rep. Josh Bray (R-Mount Vernon) are preparing data center legislation for the January 2027 session, with residents from Pike and Daviess counties urging state rather than local regulation. Hopkinsville is drafting regulations, Georgetown is considering an outright hyperscale ban and ethics complaints were filed over Carrollton council votes on land deals for a hyperscale project.
Source: the-messenger.comThe Woodford County Fiscal Court voted unanimously in early September 2026 (reported as 8 September) to permanently ban data center construction, the first Kentucky county to do so. No project had been proposed there. In Burgin, a council member walked out on 9 September to deny a quorum and block a vote on a proposed data center project.
Source: newsfromthestates.comBell County has a two-year moratorium and the city of Russell a six-month moratorium running to December 2026, joining Cave City. Russell's mayor learned in June 2026 of a proposed 2 GW data center on the former AK Steel site, described as an $8 billion to $12 billion project. Pikeville has signed a memorandum with a developer to explore a data center.
Source: savrn.comThe Fiscal Court unanimously passed a one-year moratorium on new data center applications in unincorporated areas on 11 August 2026, and on 28 September 2026 unanimously rejected zoning rules that would have created an industrial technology district for hyperscale data centers next to the E.W. Brown Generating Station, less than a mile from Shaker Village. The moratorium does not reach the city of Burgin, which has no zoning and is weighing annexation for Panattoni's Project Bluegrass.
Source: newsfromthestates.comA Metro Council committee tabled a proposed six-month data center moratorium on 2 June 2026, after the Planning Commission approved a 1.6 million square foot data center in West Louisville in March 2026. The council then passed a six-month moratorium 24 to 1 in mid-August 2026. Bowling Green's commission rejected a moratorium 3 to 2 on 2 June and adopted zoning rules instead.
Source: programs.comGov. Andy Beshear's order of 6 August 2026 requires developers to file an energy plan with the Energy and Environment Cabinet showing no detrimental impact, tells the Public Service Commission not to let a utility raise rates to recover data center costs, and directs the cabinet to refuse permits that would harm air, water or natural resources. Projects must not avoid local or school taxes and are expected to hold public discussions. The order states no penalties, and the Republican House Speaker and Senate President say it lacks enforcement.
Source: wkms.orgOn 21 August 2026 the Public Service Commission approved the contract between Big Rivers Electric and TeraWulf for a data center at an idled aluminum smelter in Hancock County. TeraWulf is also building at an industrial park shared by Greenup and Boyd counties.
Source: newsfromthestates.comThe Fiscal Court held a public hearing and second reading on planning commission-recommended data center regulations on 18 August 2026. The county's moratorium stays in place until an ordinance passes; options included amending the draft or tabling it until 2027.
Source: wdrbwave.comThe Fiscal Court passed a 12-month moratorium on data center development on 21 July 2026; it can be ended early or extended by the court.
Source: spectrumnews1.comDraft legislation expected in the 2027 session would require a locality to hold a state designation before hosting a hyperscale data center, earned through public hearings, a vote of the fiscal court or council, and a local ordinance on setbacks, noise and water. Limits on NDAs and ratepayer cost protection are also under discussion. Not yet introduced.
Source: dbllaw.comDaviess County enacted a 12-month moratorium on data center construction in late May 2026. Allen County passed a 24-month moratorium, Cave City a one-year moratorium in spring 2026, and Ashland a six-month pause on applications earlier in 2026.
Source: route-fifty.comThe bill passed the House 90-8. It would have required large data centers to contract to cover transmission and infrastructure costs attributable to them, pay a $75,000 application fee, and comply with local rules to keep state tax breaks. Its language was added to SB 197 and then removed on 15 April 2026; LG&E and KU opposed it.
Source: wkms.orgFranklin's Planning and Zoning Commission approved a preliminary plan on 3 March 2026 for a 147-acre data center with on-site power generation. A citizens group sued in Simpson Circuit Court on 2 April 2026, arguing the project should have gone through conditional-use review.
Source: wbko.comThe PSC's 16 February 2026 rate case orders approved Rate EHLF with modifications for future customers such as data centers, with long-term contracts, minimum revenue payments and collateral. A federal lab survey lists a 50 MVA threshold and an 85 percent load factor requirement. As proposed, the terms were a 15-year contract and payment for at least 80 percent of forecast demand; the final figures were not confirmed.
Source: stocktitan.netA December 2025 county ordinance requires any new data center, and any related on-site energy system, to sit in heavy industrial zoning with a conditional use permit. TenKey LandCo, which plans a $5 billion campus in Franklin powered by its own gas turbines with no grid connection, sued in January 2026, arguing the county cannot override city zoning.
Source: wkms.orgApproved with modifications by PSC order of 30 October 2025. Applies to loads of 15 MW or more with a 60 percent load factor; loads above 250 MW need dedicated resources, which the customer may supply. The PSC raised the deposit to six months of expected maximum bills, removed the cap on the application fee (minimum $75,000) and requires its approval of every special contract.
Source: psc.ky.govOn 28 October 2025 the PSC approved about $3 billion for two gas units totaling roughly 1.3 GW and extended the Ghent 2 coal unit, citing 1,470 MW of expected load growth. The utilities may not build if the load does not appear and the plants would not be least cost.
Source: wkms.orgThe Fiscal Court passed a 150-day moratorium on 1 July 2025 after Western Hospitality Partners withdrew a $6 billion, 600 MW proposal and filed a smaller $1.5 billion plan. A moratorium was still in place in August 2026 while permanent rules were drafted.
Source: datacenterdynamics.comExtends the sales and use tax exemption on data center equipment from Jefferson County only to any county, with minimum investment of $450 million in counties of 100,000 or more people, $100 million in counties of 50,000 to 100,000, and $25 million in smaller counties. The exemption can run up to 50 years for projects of at least $450 million.
Source: stites.comNeed the capacity sooner than the queue allows? Every unit in the register is held by Genloop, restored and re-warrantied, and can move on your timeline.
Fast-track power →