Data center approvals in Texas halted until audits completed, Gov. Greg Abbott says

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday announced a moratorium on the approval of data centers seeking connection to the state's electric grid until regulatory agencies complete audits of proposed facilities. Abbott said the action is needed to protect Texans' safety and quality of life amid growing public backlash to the rapid buildout of data centers across the state. Abbott directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to conduct a comprehensive verification and audit of all data centers advancing through ERCOT's interconnection queue. The agencies must ensure developers provide information on tax breaks, power use and generation, water use and cooling operations, efforts to reduce local impacts, and facility ownership. Any projects that fail the audit should be denied grid connection, Abbott said. ERCOT is currently tracking more than 1,800 projects in the queue representing over 474 gigawatts of electricity, with approximately 90% of new power requests coming from data centers. Following Abbott's directive, ERCOT said Monday it is putting its ongoing "batch zero" review on pause. The Data Center Coalition said it was hopeful the directive could separate responsible developers from irresponsible ones and urged regulators to quickly conduct the audits. Abbott cited the failure of some data centers to comply with a recent PUCT survey measuring water and power usage as a reason for the audit. Of 377 companies notified about the survey, only 28 submitted responses. The PUCT did not respond to questions about the scope of the audit.