Roughly 474 gigawatts of new connection requests are queued up for the Texas grid, and about nine in ten of them are data centers. That backlog, which has more than doubled since January, is now the reason Governor Greg Abbott has ordered a statewide pause on new projects.
Abbott announced Monday that every data center seeking to connect to the grid must first pass an audit by the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Any project that does not measure up will be denied power. Regulators say the queue already represents more than five times ERCOT’s total peak demand, meaning even a fraction of the proposed facilities could overwhelm the system.
Texas has been one of the most attractive states in the country for AI infrastructure, drawing builders with light regulation, abundant natural gas and cheap renewable power. Only Virginia hosts more data centers. But residents have pushed back as electricity prices climb, and the issue has become a reelection priority for Abbott ahead of the next legislative session.
The governor had already moved in June to tighten oversight, calling on lawmakers to phase out what he described as outdated tax incentives for the industry. An audit of 138 data centers receiving sales tax breaks found only 20 had been reviewed, and six of those were out of compliance.
