(NewsNation) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered a pause on approving new data center projects that want to connect to the state’s power grid until regulators finish an audit of what those projects would need from it.
In a letter sent Monday to the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), Abbott said any data center project that doesn’t pass the new verification process “must be denied.”
“Our top priority is to protect Texans’ safety and quality of life,” Abbott wrote. “Any project that fails to comply with the requirements set forth by the PUCT and ERCOT, and by state law, must be denied connection to the Texas grid. Simply put, Texans must come first.”
ERCOT is currently reviewing about 474 gigawatts of proposed new electricity demand — more than five times the state’s record peak load — and roughly 90% of that is coming from data centers, according to Reuters.
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Developers will now have to hand over more details about their power and water use, tax breaks, who owns the projects and what they’re doing to limit their impact on nearby communities.
ERCOT said it would work with PUCT to delay a related transmission planning study to comply with the governor’s order.
Opposition to data centers has been growing across Texas and beyond. New York put a one-year moratorium on large-scale data centers in July, and a June Reuters poll found only about a third of Americans approve of how fast data centers are being built.
Texas has been positioning itself to overtake Virginia as the world’s largest data center hub by 2030, but rural landowners, ranchers and both Republican and Democratic officials have raised concerns about strained water supplies and rising electricity costs, as well as land use.
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