Gov. Abbott Orders Texas Data Center Audit

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered an audit of data center projects seeking to connect to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) power grid, directing state regulators to review their electricity demand, water use, community impacts and ownership. Projects undergoing the ERCOT interconnection process will not move forward until the verification process is completed.

Why Texas Is Auditing Data Center Projects

The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and ERCOT are now working to complete comprehensive "verification and audit" of any data centers in the state that are currently in ERCOT's grid interconnection process.

No data center projects will be allowed to move forward in the interconnection process until the audit is completed. Governor Abbott's office mentioned that any data center project that fails to comply with his order will not be allowed to connect to the Texas power grid.

Abbott said, “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.”

The rapid growth of data centers has become a major topic in Texas right now as many Texans are worried about the noise they create and the resources needed to keep running.

How Many Data Centers Are Waiting to Connect?

ERCOT is reportedly considering over 474 gigawatts worth of requests from facilities looking to connect to the state power grid and around 90% of those requests are from proposed data centers.

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What Information the State Wants From Data Centers

Governor Abbott directed PUCT and ERCOT to collect the following information while completing the data center audits:

Financial incentives
Electricity demand
Water usage
Noise and neighborhood impacts
Ownership structure

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