Full story
Abbott orders audit pause
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state energy regulators to halt approvals for all new data center projects seeking to connect to the Texas power grid until a comprehensive audit and verification process is completed.
“ordered state energy regulators to halt approvals for all new data center projects”
In a directive to the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), Abbott said projects that fail to comply with the requirements set forth by the PUCT and ERCOT, and by state law, must be denied connection to the Texas grid.
The order comes as ERCOT is evaluating roughly 474 gigawatts in grid connection requests, more than five times Texas’s record peak electricity demand, with about 90% of those requests coming from data centers.
The pause is tied to a letter Abbott sent Monday to the PUCT and ERCOT calling for officials to collect more information to keep the state’s grid stable, while the audit timeline remains unclear.
Fox 7 Austin reported the directive was sent to PUCT Chairman Thomas Gleeson and ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas, and that neither ERCOT nor the PUCT has announced an official timeline for completing the audit process.
What the audit demands
Abbott’s letter called for data centers to report to ERCOT and the PUC information about their proposed water use, tax breaks they receive, what cooling technologies they’re using, and who owns the projects.
Houston Public Media said Abbott directed the PUCT and ERCOT to collect details including “noise mitigation, light controls, setbacks, traffic improvements, emergency response coordination, and other community protection measures,” along with “controlling interests.”
The directive also requires disclosures about projected power consumption and steps to reduce reliance on the Texas power grid, including on-site electric plants used to power the data centers.
E&E News reported Abbott wrote that no additional data center connections can be approved or move forward until the audit process occurs, and that any project that fails to comply must be denied connection to the Texas grid.
ERCOT said it was reviewing Abbott’s letter and would work with the Public Utility Commission to implement the governor’s directive, including postponement of the Batch Zero transmission planning study.
Political pressure and next steps
The audit pause immediately reshaped grid planning, with E&E News describing ERCOT’s plan to bring data centers online in groups, including “Batch Zero,” and noting ERCOT had planned to notify data centers about whether they qualify for Batch Zero this Friday and provide power allocation amounts by spring 2027.
“ERCOT announced Monday that study process was on hold”
Houston Chronicle reported ERCOT announced Monday that its Batch Zero study process was on hold and said it would consult with the PUC on next steps, while energy researcher Joshua Rhodes at the University of Texas at Austin said the effect depends on how long regulators give projects to provide information and how long they take to assess it.
Democratic nominee Gina Hinojosa criticized the pause as insufficient, saying Abbott’s call for a “pause” could be for one day and arguing for a moratorium on data centers until the Texas Legislature reconvenes.
In a statement Monday, Hinojosa said, “The people of Texas are being taken advantage of, in a big way, by corporations who are operating under no rules,” and she urged Abbott to sign an emergency executive order.
Reason Magazine framed the shift as Abbott halting all new data center construction pending a “comprehensive verification and audit,” while noting that ERCOT was already taking steps with a “Batch Zero Process for Large Load Interconnections.”
