Texas Halts Data Center Connections To Power Grid Amid Overwhelming Demand (arstechnica.com) 76
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Nowhere is the US data center boom bigger than in Texas. But less than a year after declaring Texas the "epicenter of AI development," Governor Greg Abbott has declared a moratorium on all new power grid connections for data centers -- at least until developers provide more information about their projects' potential impacts on the grid and communities. The Republican governor directed regulators in an August 3 announcement at the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the grid operators at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to perform a "comprehensive verification and audit of all data centers advancing through ERCOT's interconnection process." As an independent system operator, ERCOT oversees a power grid that operates separately from the rest of the United States and provides services to most of Texas.
Texas has aggressively courted data center development with its availability of cheap land and relatively abundant energy resources, along with offering state incentives, like tax breaks and fewer regulations. That puts the state on track to surpass Virginia in becoming the largest US data center market. But the recent AI boom and the accompanying frenzy of data center development threaten to overwhelm the Texas grid on paper, despite the state leading the country in adding new power generation. The ERCOT interconnection queue currently includes more than 1,800 projects representing over 474 gigawatts' worth of requests to connect to the Texas grid -- more than five times Texas' record peak electricity demand -- and about 90 percent of those power connection requests come from data centers.
"That unprecedented load growth could endanger the reliability and stability of the Texas electric grid," according to the statement from Abbott's office. Many of those data center projects may never materialize for various reasons. But ERCOT has still forecast that data center demand and other factors could drive statewide electricity demand to double the current demand record by 2032, according to The Texas Tribune. The review will examine each project's projected electricity consumption, reliance on the grid and state incentives, ownership, and water use. It will also assess measures intended to "reduce impacts on neighboring property owners and communities," including noise controls, lighting, traffic improvements, setbacks, and emergency planning.
Ars Technica notes that the directive does not address air pollution or greenhouse-gas emissions and does not apply to data centers generating their own power on-site.
Texas has aggressively courted data center development with its availability of cheap land and relatively abundant energy resources, along with offering state incentives, like tax breaks and fewer regulations. That puts the state on track to surpass Virginia in becoming the largest US data center market. But the recent AI boom and the accompanying frenzy of data center development threaten to overwhelm the Texas grid on paper, despite the state leading the country in adding new power generation. The ERCOT interconnection queue currently includes more than 1,800 projects representing over 474 gigawatts' worth of requests to connect to the Texas grid -- more than five times Texas' record peak electricity demand -- and about 90 percent of those power connection requests come from data centers.
"That unprecedented load growth could endanger the reliability and stability of the Texas electric grid," according to the statement from Abbott's office. Many of those data center projects may never materialize for various reasons. But ERCOT has still forecast that data center demand and other factors could drive statewide electricity demand to double the current demand record by 2032, according to The Texas Tribune. The review will examine each project's projected electricity consumption, reliance on the grid and state incentives, ownership, and water use. It will also assess measures intended to "reduce impacts on neighboring property owners and communities," including noise controls, lighting, traffic improvements, setbacks, and emergency planning.
Ars Technica notes that the directive does not address air pollution or greenhouse-gas emissions and does not apply to data centers generating their own power on-site.
Grift central (Score:2, Insightful)
The ERCOT interconnection queue currently includes more than 1,800 projects representing over 474 gigawatts' worth of requests to connect to the Texas grid -- more than five times Texas' record peak electricity demand -- and about 90 percent of those power connection requests come from data centers.
1,800 local politicians saw dollar signs and signed tax incentives for luscious kickbacks. Most of them didn't realize the other grifters around the state were also making back room deals. Now all the data centers want cheap power, tax breaks, and cooling water that Texas just doesn't have.
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The ERCOT interconnection queue currently includes more than 1,800 projects representing over 474 gigawatts' worth of requests to connect to the Texas grid -- more than five times Texas' record peak electricity demand -- and about 90 percent of those power connection requests come from data centers.
1,800 local politicians saw dollar signs and signed tax incentives for luscious kickbacks. Most of them didn't realize the other grifters around the state were also making back room deals. Now all the data centers want cheap power, tax breaks, and cooling water that Texas just doesn't have.
Yous have to stop taking such a short view.
1. Datacenter demands x KWhs of electricity. Utility caves because it's just demand, like more people moving to Texas, and that's a BIG Tax Plus.
2. Datacenter gets KWhs/per$ contract with Utility, possibly underwritten by Gov./taxpayers, possibly unstated cost.
3. Datacenter demand collapses, entire grift explodes leaving only two or three players. People move on, just happy they can get DDR5 again.
4. Datacenter still has contract with Utility but no demand. "Of
What?!?!? (Score:5, Funny)
Surely they're not going to cut off the data centers just so ordinary people can have electricity?
Re:What?!?!? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What?!?!? (Score:5, Funny)
It's part of the bullshit-in/bullshit-out AI bubble.
Re: (Score:1)
There's so much excess bullshit in American that many World Cup fans visiting from away wish they could stay. Forever.
Re:What?!?!? (Score:5, Interesting)
There's so much excess bullshit in Texas they could dry it and burn it to power data centers.
It's part of the bullshit-in/bullshit-out AI bubble.
12 million head of cattle, averaging 100 lbs of manure per day per cow, is around 219 million tons of manure a year. 1 ton burned is around 45 KWh of power. So that's 9.8 GWh of power per year. A single datacenter depending on the build needs anywhere from 87 GWh to 8.76 TWh annually. So not remotely close to enough bullshit to handle it. The 110 TWh of wind and 65 TWh of solar power produced annually in TX (the highest renewable energy production of any US State) does make for a great start though, and especially in West Texas where they are LOTS of places to build it with no one around to care other than those 12 million cow and associated cowboys.
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averaging 100 lbs of manure per day per cow
Really? I never knew a cow can shit 100lbs per day. My family used to own a dozen cows, I'm quite sure the whole group shit about 30lbs a day.
Re: What?!?!? (Score:2)
However much they shit you still need to account for water loss
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Really? I never knew a cow can shit 100lbs per day. My family used to own a dozen cows, I'm quite sure the whole group shit about 30lbs a day.
Are you sure that you had cows and not a bunch of small goats or something? Because a dozen small goats would produce 30lbs a day of poop.
The GP is very much right. Depending on breed, size, and feed, and purpose a typical cow shits out 60-150lbs a day. Cows reared for beef are on the lower end. Cows reared for dairy are on the higher end. Even heifers can shit out about 50lbs of manure a day.
https://thedairylandinitiative... [wisc.edu]
https://www.eesi.org/papers/vi... [eesi.org]
https://dairyone.com/services/... [dairyone.com]
Capitalism & Freedom (Score:1)
Capitalism & Freedom
No !
not like that !
Wind and sunshine (Score:4)
Texas has plenty of wind and sunshine.
They should be installing wind turbines in the Panhandle and solar panels in the Trans-Pecos region.
Someone should explain supply and demand to Governor Abbott.
Re:Wind and sunshine (Score:5, Insightful)
"Someone should explain supply and demand to Governor Abbott." In his mind, energy = burning hydrocarbons. If Texas had lots of coal, they'd happily burn that. They do not give a flying rat's ass about the planet. And there's sizeable contingent of Christian Nutjobs down there that figure if we screw up the Earth badly enough, then Jesus will return. It's all in the Bible, along with all their science.
Re:Wind and sunshine (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah but what happens then? ICE will simply deport poor Jesus, if he doesn't die in their detention centre first.
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Ya forgot the /s flag...
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Texas has plenty of wind and sunshine.
They should be installing wind turbines in the Panhandle and solar panels in the Trans-Pecos region.
Someone should explain supply and demand to Governor Abbott.
Texas is also a loser. At least according to his orangeness [independent.co.uk].
Alongside this "audit" of data centers, Texas is planning to build one next to a Buddhist monastery [independent.co.uk]. I'm sure if I decided to build a data center next to church it would be denied even before I got my last word out of my mouth.
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Texas IS installing solar and wind, faster than any other state in fact.
But unlike China which virtue signals about the alt power they are building, Texas lack-of-virtue signals by crowing about coal and oil while building... the same alt power.
Chinese are more forward-looking than Texans.
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But unlike China which virtue signals about the alt power they are building
China is the country that lead the charts in reducing carbon intensity per kWh generated in 2025. In fact one of the few countries where carbon intensity per kWh increased last year was the good ol' USofA. China's green energy growth far exceeded their energy growth last year (as it has the past 4 years).
Educate yourself https://www.energyinst.org/sta... [energyinst.org]
Re: Wind and sunshine (Score:1)
Educate yourself as to what words and phrases in English mean before you try to correct me.
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Educate yourself as to what words and phrases in English mean before you try to correct me.
Ok I'll do so:
Virtue signaling: a critical term for when people or groups talk about good moral values just to make themselves look good to others.
So literally by definition doing something that has a material positive effect is not simple virtue signalling.
Oh okay I think you're the one here that got an education. But it's okay, I'm not American so this education was free. You're welcome.
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They are. Texas has installed more renewables than anywhere else in the world in the past few years, but it isn't going to allow them to meet a 5x electricity demand.
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Texas has installed more renewables than anywhere else in the world in the past few years
[citation needed]
For Texas, I'm finding 2024 numbers from the Texas Economic Development Corp. here [businessintexas.com] and it touts adding 9,700 MW of solar in 2024. Meanwhile, China installed 277,000 MW of solar in 2024. I'm not readily finding numbers for wind, but I don't really need to -- you're the one making the outlandish claim, you need to provide the data.
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Texas has the most wind turbines in the United States by a massive margin. The state features roughly 19,600 active wind turbines, which is more than the next three states combined, and accounts for over a quarter of all U.S. wind energy generation.
Re: Wind and sunshine (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Texas has plenty of wind and sunshine.
They should be installing wind turbines in the Panhandle and solar panels in the Trans-Pecos region.
Someone should explain supply and demand to Governor Abbott.
110 TWh of wind and 65 TWh of solar power produced annually in TX (the highest renewable energy production of any US State). Believe they already understand. They are energy companies, they don't care how the energy is produced whether it be oil wells, solar panels, or wind turbines, as long as they can make a profit on it. Though they still need the oil wells, as solar panels require oil to make, so do wind turbines not to mention the massive amount of lubricating oil/grease they use.
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Someone should explain supply and demand to Governor Abbott.
Potential power generation does not mean solar and wind farms magically appear overnight. Infrastructure like transmission lines also do not appear out of nowhere. You're also talking about deep red Texas which cares little about regulation. The problem is not Abbott is against any data centers forever. The problem is even in Texas, the infrastructure is struggling to cope right now.
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Potential power generation does not mean solar and wind farms magically appear overnight. Infrastructure like transmission lines also do not appear out of nowhere. You're also talking about deep red Texas which cares little about regulation. The problem is not Abbott is against any data centers forever. The problem is even in Texas, the infrastructure is struggling to cope right now.
Exactly. Texas is insisting that the requestors of these new power interconnects provide details forecasts on realistic/actual planned demand. No doubt a lot of these datacenter projects are just asking for xGW interconnects so they can advertise they have xGW to presell to finance their builds. The end effect of this pause it to filter out the noise and match requirements from viable projects to available capacity. It's called planning, and while ERCOT is not known for doing that very well, this might actually be a sign they are getting better at that. All the while putting spin on it that satisfies the DC opponents in the polls. Smart really.
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If there's regular power outages, no amount of campaign contributions are going to persuade angry voters to vote them back into office at the next election.
It's because the midterms (Score:4, Insightful)
So short-term they're going to back off at least until after the midterms because America is still nominally a democracy.
If we get another term of the Republicans in the white house though I don't think it's going to matter anymore and you're going to find out what it's like to have one party rule. They're not going to give a fucking rat's ass whether you have electricity and water..
Re: Oh and in case you didn't know that's (Score:2, Informative)
Re: Oh and in case you didn't know that's (Score:5, Informative)
The Dems were in power and running the elections when Trump won - both times. So your complaints about voter suppression simply don't hold water.
No the Democrats were in power in precisely one state more than Republicans were. Complaints about voter suppression don't need to "hold water", they are widely documented and have been the subject of many high profile court cases.
The thing that is new in this election, is federal government interference in state matters (which currently is ALSO the subject of court cases).
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Yes that's all things that happen in states. It's precisely why you have voting irregularity numbers, and precisely why we know they are low enough that they wouldn't affect the outcome of even the tightest of marginal seats.
On the other hand gerrymandering, and implementing voter laws that explicitly effect one group more than another... That statistically has been proven that it would affect some outcomes.
But yeah bOtH sIdEs bullshit right?
Re: (Score:2)
The news is about all I get these days. But it does help to listen to someone other than Fox occasionally.
I am aware the Democrats were in power (Score:3, Interesting)
I think a few of them filed some paperwork that didn't go anywhere.
Democrats are obsessed with propriety and being correct. So they don't know how to respond when the other side are openl
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm also as a Democrat incredibly furious because they did absolutely fuck all about voter suppression.
You and people like yourself are a shame and an extreme nuisance to our democratic party. We don't stand a chance to win an election again until we kick all crazy people such as yourself out of our party like they did in Canada to win the election again instead of losing it to the conservative like it happened in the US thanks to people like you. The ones who stayed completely stopped spreading any Trudeau's bullshit rhetoric and adapted perfectly to prime minister Carney's more balanced way to view things.
Re: I am aware the Democrats were in power (Score:3)
No actual democrats think fetterman is right about anything
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Re: I am aware the Democrats were in power (Score:3, Informative)
Robert Reich kept posting about Republicans and complaining about authoritarianism... The fucking Democrats are authoritarians (look at their last presidential candidate... Tough on crime bullshit just like any Republican) and Trump is a fascist but Democrats acted like that was a word they could never use until recently (Reich finally used the F word a few months ago.)
As long as major Democrats softball fascists they are only helping them and might as well be them.
Robert Reich can piss off (Score:3)
He's especially bad because he has the background in statistics that he ca
Re: Oh and in case you didn't know that's (Score:2)
Re: It's because the midterms (Score:1)
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It is surprising to me that a minority party has gained so much power in politics that it can blatantly and shamelessly screw over voters and then give a middle finger to anyone who complains.
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There is no "news" when it comes to complaints about election fraud. It's all "olds" and that "olds" all showed no evidence of any significant election fraud. But sure tell me how identifying one or two people who sent 2 mail in ballots will change an election.
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Shame you got modded down for facts [bestcolleges.com].
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Reference: https://www.npr.org/2026/08/02... [npr.org]
"Capital One bank has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit from the Trump Organization over the closure of hundreds of bank accounts back in 2021, arguing in new papers that the shutdowns were the product of a monthslong anti-money-laundering review — not retaliation for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, as the Trump family businesses have claimed."
"The Trump Organization alleges Capital One moved to distance itself from Donald Trump after the Capitol riot and
Re:It's because the midterms (Score:4, Interesting)
Like the rest of the country, the democrat run areas supply most of the wealthy generated in the state. Also like the rest of the country right now, the socialist republicans take the money produced by the democrats and then spend it in republican controlled areas and otherwise ways the people who generated the money largely do not approve. Taxation without representation, if you were.
My birth state of Utah is much the same. It is one of the reasons I moved. First to a state almost completely controlled by democrats, then to a purple one. I like it better here in a battle ground state. People actually have to work together and compromise to get things done. There is also a lot less corruption; or at least they don't seem to flaunt it. I am sure the people running Utah don't mind that I left. Though the people who bought my house are unlikely to vote any differently than I did.
Everything's big in Texas (Score:5, Funny)
Especially the mistakes.
Renewable Wind Energy problem (again) (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Given your username, have you not seen the sheer amount of pro-AI BS that's been infesting every aspect of society?
Even Bernie Sanders has bought the propaganda.
Texas: Whoring itself for AI (Score:1)
Techbros inbound (Score:1)
With briefcases of cash to change Abbots mind