Texas Governor Greg Abbott has directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to conduct a comprehensive verification and audit of all data centers advancing through ERCOT’s interconnection process.

Data Center Approvals Paused

According to the governor’s news release, data centers that do not comply with the agencies’ requirements will not be allowed to use the Texas grid. Governor Abbott stated that the top priority is to protect Texans’ safety and quality of life.

ERCOT is considering more than 474 gigawatts of requests to connect to the Texas grid, which is more than five times the state’s record peak electricity demand for the agency. Additionally, 90% of the new power requests came from data centers, the governor said.

The governor warned that the growth of data centers could endanger the reliability and stability of the grid. He directed the PUCT and ERCOT to collect information from data centers, including their power usage and grid connection requirements.

Original reporting: El Paso News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.