Even famously pro-business Texas appears to be trying to get ahead of growing backlash against new data center developments. Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which operates most of the state’s power grid, to conduct a comprehensive audit of data center projects currently seeking to connect to the ERCOT grid. According to the governor’s office, the audit must be completed before any projects moving through ERCOT’s interconnection process can be approved. Projects that fail to comply with requirements set by state regulators will be denied a connection to the grid. Regulators must also collect information about each project’s expected electricity demand, how much power it plans to generate itself, its water use, and any tax incentives or other public subsidies it may receive. Developers will also have to explain how they plan to reduce noise, light pollution, traffic, and other effects on nearby communities.
The move comes as nearly every major tech company, including Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI, is pouring billions of dollars into building out the infrastructure needed to train and run their competing AI models. Texas has become a particularly attractive destination for data center projects. OpenAI’s flagship Stargate data center is located in Abilene. Meanwhile, the Data Center Map currently lists more than 500 facilities across the state, second only to Virginia. Still, that number could grow significantly in the years to come.
