Texas Governor Greg Abbott has imposed a moratorium on new data center connections to the state's power grid, citing overwhelming demand that could threaten grid reliability. The ERCOT interconnection queue includes over 1,800 projects totaling more than 474 gigawatts—over five times Texas's peak electricity demand—with about 90% of requests coming from data centers.
Background
Texas has aggressively courted data center development with cheap land, energy resources, and tax incentives, positioning itself to surpass Virginia as the largest US data center market. The AI boom has accelerated demand for data center power, raising concerns about grid reliability.
- Source
- Ars Technica
- Published
- Aug 5, 2026 at 04:34 AM
- Score
- 7.0 / 10