Capital Program Planning for Mississippi Electric Utilities

by | Oct 21, 2026

Mississippi · Electric & Grid Utilities

Amazon alone is planning up to $25 billion of Mississippi data centers. Your capital plan is where that load gets served.

Hyperscale data centers are landing in Madison, Warren, Lauderdale and Rankin counties, and Entergy Mississippi and Mississippi Power are building their first new gas plants in a generation to serve them. Every one of those commitments reshuffles the projects competing for the same capital and the same PSC approvals. Invizion helps electric utilities re-sequence a capital portfolio in a click — and defend every decision.

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The bottom line: Amazon alone plans up to $25 billion of Mississippi data centers, and Entergy Mississippi and Mississippi Power are building their first new gas plants in a generation to serve them. The utilities that come out ahead will re-sequence capital as fast as the load and the approvals move.
$25B1
Amazon's planned total investment across Mississippi — the largest capital investment in the state's history.1
~500 MW2
Single-campus load Mississippi Power is serving for Compass Datacenters' $10B Meridian project.2
754 MW3
Each of Entergy Mississippi's two new gas stations — Vicksburg ($1.2B, 2028) and Traceview (2029).3
1,443 MW4
Grand Gulf — the most powerful single-unit reactor in the U.S.; Entergy 90%, Cooperative Energy 10%.4

The Mississippi Landscape

Four forces are moving your project list at once

Mississippi went from a slow-growth power market to one of the country's hottest data-center destinations in under two years. None of these forces waits for your next budget cycle, and together they mean the capital plan you approved last year may already be the wrong plan.

Demand — Load Growth

Gigawatts of hyperscale load, arriving fast

AWS broke ground on a $10 billion, 1,000-job data-center complex in Madison County in 2024 — then expanded its Mississippi plans to roughly $25 billion, including an $11 billion Madison County build-out.51 Compass Datacenters added a $10 billion, ~500 MW campus in Meridian, and AVAIO Digital a $6 billion campus in Rankin County.26

Entergy Mississippi serves about 459,000 customers across 45 of the state's 82 counties — and each of these campuses is a multi-hundred-megawatt capacity commitment competing for the same capital.7

Reliability — Adequacy

Two grids, one tightening margin

Entergy Mississippi and Cooperative Energy operate within MISO, which NERC's 2024 Long-Term Reliability Assessment flags as an “elevated risk” region — adequacy depends on roughly 56 GW of queued resources actually landing on schedule.8 Mississippi Power sits in the Southern Company balancing authority in the SERC region.

The state generated about 77.3 million MWh in 2024 on 15,961 MW of summer capacity, overwhelmingly from natural gas.9 New data-center load is being added on top of that base far faster than the historical trend.

Generation — The Transition

New gas and solar, on a capital clock

Entergy Mississippi is building its first new gas stations in about 50 years — the 754 MW Vicksburg station (~$1.2 billion, in service 2028) and the 754 MW Traceview station near Ridgeland (over $1 billion, 2029) — with more generation planned for the AWS load.310 It is also expanding solar: the 100 MW Sunflower station plus up to 1,000 MW more under its EDGE program.11

The transition is not new here. Mississippi Power's Kemper plant abandoned its “clean coal” gasification design in 2017 and now runs on gas;12 Cooperative Energy's 572 MW R.D. Morrow gas unit reached commercial operation in 2023.13

Capital — Grid & Hardening

Build for growth and harden for storms

Serving the new load means transmission, substations and generation at once — Entergy Mississippi's Vicksburg and Traceview stations alone represent well over $2 billion of new capital.310

Storm hardening stacks on top: the DOE sent TVA up to $250 million to harden the grid across its region, including north Mississippi.14 Cooperative Energy alone carries $2.3 billion in assets across roughly 60,600 miles of line that all have to be maintained.15 New obligations don't replace the backlog — they stack on top of it.

Who Runs Mississippi's Grid

Two investor-owned utilities, TVA in the north, and a large cooperative footprint

Mississippi's grid is split among two PSC-regulated investor-owned utilities, TVA-supplied local power companies in the north, and a member-owned generation-and-transmission cooperative that reaches over half the state's land mass. The pressures are shared; the accountability path differs.

Investor-owned utilities

Rates & capital recovery regulated by the Mississippi PSC

Entergy Mississippi ~459,000 customers · 45 of 82 counties · MISO7
Mississippi Power (Southern Company) 23 counties, SE Mississippi · ~3,098 MW12
Grand Gulf Nuclear Station 1,443 MW · Claiborne County · Entergy 90% / Cooperative Energy 10%4

Entergy Mississippi's two new gas stations alone represent more than $2 billion of capital in this decade.310

Public power & cooperatives

Governed by TVA, boards & members — not PSC rates

Cooperative Energy 11 member co-ops · ~456,000 meters · 55 of 82 counties · Hattiesburg15
TVA & local power companies (north MS) Municipals & distribution co-ops served by TVA14
Distribution cooperatives Dixie, Coast, Southern Pine, Singing River & more

Cooperative Energy sold about 10.2 million MWh to members in 2024 and holds a 10% stake in Grand Gulf.154

Rate-Setting & Oversight

Every capital dollar has to be defensible

Whether you answer to the Public Service Commission, a TVA wholesale contract, or an elected co-op board, the question is the same: why this project, why now, why at this cost?

  • Mississippi Public Service Commission (PSC) — three elected commissioners (Northern, Central, Southern districts) regulate rates and capital recovery for Entergy Mississippi and Mississippi Power.16
  • Formula and performance rate plans — the PSC sets Entergy Mississippi's rates through an annual Formula Rate Plan and Mississippi Power's through a Performance Evaluation Plan, so capital spend is reviewed every year rather than only in occasional rate cases.16
  • Certificates for new generation — large plants such as the Vicksburg and Traceview gas stations require PSC certificates of public convenience and necessity, and the data-center deals ride on special service arrangements approved by the Commission.310
  • TVA & co-op governance — north-Mississippi local power companies buy wholesale from TVA, and Cooperative Energy's board answers to its 11 member systems, not to the PSC.1415

Funding On The Table

The money is moving — can your plan absorb it?

Mississippi utilities have more grid capital in play — private, federal and utility — than they have had in a generation. The constraint is readiness: which projects qualify, which are shovel-ready, and how the timing lines up.

  • DOE GRIP: up to $250M to TVA (2024) for self-healing devices, advanced conductors and reconductoring across its region, including north Mississippi.14
  • Entergy Mississippi generation capital — roughly $1.2B for the 754 MW Vicksburg station and over $1B for the 754 MW Traceview station, its first new gas plants in about 50 years.310
  • USDA New ERA: $9.7B nationally — the Inflation Reduction Act's clean-energy program for rural electric cooperatives, for which Cooperative Energy and Mississippi's distribution co-ops are eligible.17
  • IRA elective (direct) pay lets non-taxable entities — TVA-supplied municipals, Cooperative Energy and its members — monetize clean-energy tax credits directly, putting utility-scale solar and storage within reach.

Where Invizion Fits

Turn Mississippi's grid build-out into a defensible capital plan

Invizion is scenario-based capital portfolio optimization built for utilities. When load forecasts jump, a grant lands, or a retirement date moves, you don't re-plan by hand for weeks — you model it and decide with a record to stand behind.

1

Model the “what-if” before it's forced on you

A data-center interconnect, a delayed transmission line, a moved retirement date — build the scenario and see the impact on the whole portfolio, side by side with today's plan.

2

Re-sequence 500 projects in a click

When priorities move, Invizion re-orders the portfolio automatically — accelerating, stretching, or deferring projects against the constraints you set, not weeks of spreadsheet surgery.

3

Give regulators or your board a defensible record

Every prioritization and trade-off is captured. When you're asked “why this project, why now,” the answer is documented — not reconstructed after the fact.

Mississippi's Grid, In Brief

Questions Mississippi utility leaders are asking

Short, sourced answers — the same facts we dig into with utilities looking at their capital programs.

How fast is Mississippi's electricity demand growing?
Hyperscale data centers have transformed the outlook: Amazon plans up to $25 billion across Mississippi, Compass Datacenters a $10 billion ~500 MW campus in Meridian, and AVAIO Digital a $6 billion campus in Rankin County.126
What new power plants are being built to serve the load?
Entergy Mississippi is building the 754 MW Vicksburg gas station (~$1.2B, 2028) and the 754 MW Traceview gas station near Ridgeland (over $1B, 2029), plus up to 1,000 MW of new solar under its EDGE program.31011
Who regulates my utility's rates in Mississippi?
The three-member elected Public Service Commission sets rates and capital recovery for Entergy Mississippi and Mississippi Power, largely through annual formula and performance rate plans. TVA-supplied local power companies and Cooperative Energy are governed by contract and by member boards, not the PSC.16
What happened with the Kemper plant?
Mississippi Power's Kemper County project was designed to gasify lignite coal with carbon capture, but after years of cost overruns the “clean coal” design was abandoned in 2017 and the facility now runs on natural gas.12
How reliable is the grid as this load arrives?
Entergy Mississippi and Cooperative Energy sit in MISO, which NERC's 2024 assessment rates “elevated risk,” with adequacy hinging on roughly 56 GW of queued resources arriving on time; Mississippi Power is in the Southern/SERC footprint.89
How does Invizion help Mississippi electric utilities plan capital?
Invizion is scenario-based capital portfolio optimization for utilities. It lets you model how a data-center load surge, a plant in-service date, a federal grant, or a PSC decision reshuffles your whole project list, re-sequence the portfolio automatically, and keep a defensible record of every decision for the Commission or your board.

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About the Author

GB

Guy Barlow

President, Invizion

Guy Barlow leads Invizion, a capital lifecycle management platform for water and wastewater utilities. He has spent two decades at the intersection of utility capital programs, funding, and analytics, helping utilities make faster, more defensible capital decisions.

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Invizion helps utilities model, optimize, and defend their capital programs. Explore how it works, or read our latest thinking on capital planning across the utility sector.

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This briefing was last reviewed September 2026.

Sources

  1. Office of Gov. Tate Reeves — Amazon plans to invest a total of $25 billion across Mississippi ($12B additional; $11B Madison County data-center expansion; 700 jobs), April 2026. governorreeves.ms.gov
  2. Office of Gov. Tate Reeves — Compass Datacenters $10B, ~500 MW campus in Meridian/Lauderdale County served by Mississippi Power, January 2025. governorreeves.ms.gov
  3. Entergy Mississippi — Vicksburg Advanced Power Station: 754 MW natural-gas combined cycle, ~$1.2 billion, in service August 2028 (Baxter Wilson site, Warren County). entergymississippi.com
  4. Grand Gulf Nuclear Station (Wikipedia) — 1,443 MW single-unit reactor, Claiborne County; owned 90% by Entergy (System Energy Resources) and 10% by Cooperative Energy. en.wikipedia.org
  5. Office of Gov. Tate Reeves — AWS breaks ground on $10 billion, 1,000-job data-center complex in Madison County, the largest project in state history, May 2024. governorreeves.ms.gov
  6. Office of Gov. Tate Reeves — AVAIO Digital $6 billion data-center campus in Rankin County (Brandon), the third-largest economic-development project in state history. governorreeves.ms.gov
  7. Entergy Mississippi — About: approximately 459,000 electric customers across 45 of Mississippi's 82 counties (Dec. 31, 2025). entergymississippi.com
  8. NERC 2024 Long-Term Reliability Assessment — MISO designated “elevated risk”; ~56 GW of queued resources with signed interconnection agreements needed to meet adequacy. nerc.com
  9. U.S. EIA — Mississippi Electricity Profile: ~77.3 million MWh net generation (2024), 15,961 MW net summer capacity, 10.93 cents/kWh retail price, natural gas the primary source. eia.gov
  10. Entergy Mississippi — Traceview Advanced Power Station: 754 MW natural-gas combined cycle, over $1 billion, expected in service 2029 (Ridgeland, Hinds/Madison county line). entergymississippi.com
  11. Entergy Mississippi — Solar: 100 MW Sunflower Solar Station (2022), the largest utility-owned solar facility in the state, plus up to 1,000 MW of new solar under the EDGE program. entergymississippi.com
  12. Mississippi Power (Wikipedia) — Southern Company subsidiary serving 23 counties in southeast Mississippi, ~3,098 MW capacity; Kemper IGCC “clean coal” design abandoned in 2017, now runs on natural gas. en.wikipedia.org
  13. Cooperative Energy — R.D. Morrow, Sr. Generating Station: 572 MW advanced natural-gas unit reached commercial operation March 2023. cooperativeenergy.com
  14. U.S. DOE Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) — up to $250 million to TVA for grid hardening across its region, including Mississippi, October 2024. energy.gov
  15. Cooperative Energy — 11 member distribution cooperatives, ~456,000 meters serving over 1 million Mississippians across 55 of 82 counties; $2.3 billion in assets and ~60,600 miles of line (year-end 2024); 10.2 million MWh sold in 2024. cooperativeenergy.com
  16. Mississippi Public Service Commission — three elected commissioners (Northern, Central, Southern districts) regulating electric, gas, water and telecom utilities. psc.ms.gov
  17. USDA Rural Development — Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program, $9.7 billion under the Inflation Reduction Act for rural electric cooperatives. rd.usda.gov