Texas Governor Greg Abbott directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to conduct a full verification and audit of every data center project moving through ERCOT's interconnection process. The audit must be completed before any of those projects can proceed, and any project that fails to meet PUCT and ERCOT requirements, or state law, will be denied a grid connection.
"Our top priority is to protect Texans' safety and quality of life," Abbott said. "Texans must come first," he added.
Queue tops five times peak demand
ERCOT is currently weighing more than 474 gigawatts of requests to connect to the Texas power grid, more than five times the state's record peak electricity demand. About 90 percent of those new requests come from data centers, growth that could threaten the reliability and stability of the grid.
What the audit will collect
Building on a directive Abbott issued June 10, the new order tells PUCT and ERCOT to obtain the following from each data center project:
- Financing: how much of the project's cost the developer covers itself versus state and local tax incentives, grants, abatements or other public financial assistance received or expected.
- Power: projected annual and peak electricity consumption, and any progress toward building or procuring on-site generation, including the generation type, or other steps to cut demand on the ERCOT grid.
- Water: projected annual and peak water consumption, anticipated water sources, and whether the facility will use air-cooled, closed-loop or another water-efficient cooling system.
- Community impact: measures such as noise mitigation, light controls, setbacks, traffic improvements and emergency response coordination to limit effects on neighboring property owners.
- Ownership: who owns and controls the project.
The audit requirement applies to every data center project advancing through ERCOT's interconnection process.
