Tech companies and developers have been scouring the U.S. for places to build data centers, and they’ve been drawn to Texas’s loose regulations and seemingly abundant power supply. Only Virginia hosts more data centers than Texas.
But even Texas can be pushed to the brink. Governor Greg Abbott announced Monday that all new data center projects will need to be audited by both the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the state’s grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).
The size of ERCOT’s interconnection queue has grown dramatically this year. In January, ERCOT had 233 gigawatts of projects waiting to connect to its grid. In less than six months, that figure had more than doubled. Today, Abbott’s office said ERCOT is tracking 474 gigawatts of new connection requests. About 90% of those are data centers, according to the grid operator.
Some of those projects are simply paper proposals at this point. Because queues for grid connections have grown so long, the first action many developers take is to get in line. Many projects fizzle out as they progress.
If even a fraction of those proposed projects come to fruition, they could overwhelm the Texas grid. The interconnection queue today represents more than five times ERCOT’s total peak demand.
