Texas halts new data centers as governor calls for audits
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered an audit of all new data center projects to ensure the state's power grid remains stable. The move follows a massive surge in connection requests, with data centers accounting for 90% of the 474 gigawatts currently in the queue.
Why it matters
This policy shift highlights the growing tension between the massive energy demands of AI and data infrastructure and the capacity of regional power grids.
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.
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