{"id":438895,"date":"2026-09-17T15:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T15:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/438895\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T15:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T15:04:08","slug":"ercot-group-meets-in-austin-to-plan-for-ai-data-center-power-demand-on-grid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/438895\/","title":{"rendered":"ERCOT group meets in Austin to plan for AI, data center power demand on grid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Texas power officials are meeting in Austin this morning to grapple with a growing challenge: how to connect massive new electricity users tied to <a href=\"https:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/news\/local\/texas-lawmakers-hear-debate-on-data-centers-transmission-lines\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">AI and data centers<\/a> without overloading the grid during peak demand and emergencies.<\/p>\n<p>ERCOT\u2019s Large Load Working Group is meeting in Austin to discuss how to connect major power users while ensuring the grid can still handle high-demand days and emergencies. The discussion comes after months of <a href=\"https:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/news\/local\/gov-abbott-directs-puc-ercot-on-data-centers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">conversations<\/a> between ERCOT and lawmakers about whether new data centers will put more strain on the grid and whether the companies behind them should help pay for the power and transmission upgrades they need.<\/p>\n<p>Some proposals on the group\u2019s agenda focus on how large users could cut back when the grid needs relief.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/news\/local\/poll-are-you-concerned-about-the-texas-power-grid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">POLL | Are you concerned about the Texas power grid?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Experts say data centers use almost 10 gigawatts of power from the Texas grid, about 2.5 million homes during ERCOT\u2019s peak hours.<\/p>\n<p>The meeting is a working group discussion and not a final vote on a new rule.<\/p>\n<p>A Cleanview data center map tracker lists around 500 data center facilities and projects in Texas. About 140 are operating, and hundreds are planned.<\/p>\n<p>The meeting is being held this morning at ERCOT\u2019s Austin office.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, ERCOT and its CEO, Pablo Vegas, are <a href=\"https:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/news\/local\/ercot-backtracks-after-approving-contract-that-would-let-ceo-earn-64-million-in-2027\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">facing controversy<\/a> over his pay. <\/p>\n<p>An ERCOT board presentation listed up to $6.4 million in potential earned compensation for Vegas in 2027. After Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick criticized the proposed contract, Vegas told The Texas Tribune it will not be executed and that he will remain under his current agreement. The board did not take a public vote to rescind its approval.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Texas power officials are meeting in Austin this morning to grapple with a growing challenge:&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-438895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}