Tribune News Service — Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday ordered state regulators to complete an audit of all data center projects seeking to connect to Texas’ power grid before construction can move forward, a move that seemingly puts a pause on new developments.
The direction comes at a time when the Lone Star State’s data center boom has garnered backlash from communities across the state, including municipalities adopting their own moratoriums on these large industrial developments and facing lawsuits. Though, some city officials have embraced the high-tech industry.
Abbott directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to “conduct a comprehensive verification and audit of all data centers advancing through ERCOT’s interconnection process ... before any data center project moves forward.”
A timeline for the audit was not included in Monday’s announcement.
The governor asked the PUCT and ERCOT to obtain information from data center developers such as what tax breaks they will receive, how much power and water they intend to use annually, who owns the facility and more.
“Our top priority is to protect Texans’ safety and quality of life,” Abbott said in a news release. “Any project that fails to comply with the requirements set forth by the PUCT and ERCOT, and by state law, must be denied connection to the Texas grid. Simply put, Texans must come first.”
ERCOT, which has already experienced record-breaking demand this summer when the peak ballooned to 91.1 gigawatts on July 22, 2026, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. This is 6 percent greater than the previous peak record of 85.5 GW set on Aug. 10, 2023.
ERCOT has about 474 GW worth of requests from large-load users wanting to connect to the grid, the agency recently said. About 90 percent of those requests are for data centers.
State officials have said the unprecedented load growth could put the reliability and stability of Texas’ power grid at risk.
ERCOT is already in the midst of “batch zero,” the first iteration of a new process where the agency is studying large electric users, like data centers, crypto miners and industrial facilities, requesting to connect to the grid in batch.
State regulators have said the new process will allow ERCOT to more effectively manage the rapid growth.
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Abbott Hits Pause on Data Center Approvals
What to Know:
- Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state regulators to audit data center projects before they can connect to the Texas power grid.
- Developers must disclose ownership, tax incentives and projected power and water use.
- Data centers make up about 90 percent of ERCOT’s 474 gigawatts in pending large-load requests.
