Abbott requires new data centers to provide more information before they can hook up to Texas’s grid

Energy & Environment Abbott requires new data centers to provide more information before they can hook up to Texas’s grid Comments: by Rachel Frazin - 08/04/26 11:56 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Rachel Frazin - 08/04/26 11:56 AM ET Comments: Link copied

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) this week directed state authorities to block data centers from hooking up to the grid if they do not provide the state with adequate information.

Abbott told the state’s public utility commission (PUC) and its grid operator, which is known as ERCOT, to audit all data centers’ electricity and water use before they can connect.

Abbott said that he was doing so because of “the failure of some data centers to comply with the PUC’s survey measuring water and power usage under the General Appropriations Act.”

He said that data centers must provide information about whether they are providing their own power or depending on power already on the grid, whether they are bringing and reusing their own water, their projected water consumption and anticipated water supply, whether they use noise mitigation and information about who owns the facility.

While the move does not necessarily block data centers as long as they provide the state with information, the directive appears to be an early instance of a red state issuing some sort of requirement for data centers to connect to their grid.

At the same time, it does not go as far as measures adopted by some blue states, such as New York’s data center moratorium.

The data centers that power AI have received public pushback amid concerns about their impacts on electricity bills, climate change, water, air pollution and noise.

But many states have sought to balance these concerns with their desire to attract industry and potential jobs.

Abbott warned in his directive that the power demand from all the data centers that ERCOT is considering could overwhelm the state’s electric grid.

“The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is currently considering approximately 474 gigawatts of requests to connect to the Texas grid. That is more than five times Texas’ record peak electricity demand for ERCOT,” he wrote.

“Approximately 90 percent of the new power requests are data centers. That unprecedented load growth could endanger the reliability and stability of the Texas electric grid,” he added.

In a statement, Thomas Gleeson, chairman of the Texas PUC, said that it “will continue to work closely with ERCOT to ensure these requirements … are fully carried out on behalf of the people of Texas.”

In Texas, electric grid reliability is a particularly salient issue after massive power failures during a 2021 winter storm ultimately killed hundreds of people.