Gov. Greg Abbott announced Aug. 14 that Amazon, Lancium and Cipher Digital will comply with the standards and guidelines he established for data centers operating in Texas.
The announcement adds three more companies to a growing list the governor’s office has disclosed since Abbott set statewide data center standards earlier this summer. His office said the guidelines are being implemented by data centers across the state, and that one data center that could not comply chose to end operations before beginning construction.
“I established clear guardrails to ensure data centers protect our electric grid, conserve our water, respect our neighborhoods, and pay their own way,” Abbott said. “They must not pass costs on to Texas families or interfere with their quality of life.”
The governor directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to ensure that data centers pay for their own electric infrastructure instead of shifting costs onto Texas families and small businesses, reuse their own water, reduce the cost of electricity for Texans, avoid disrupting residential neighborhoods and eliminate reliance on what his office called outdated taxpayer-funded incentives.
Both agencies must also examine each project before it proceeds. According to the governor’s office, developers must disclose taxpayer-funded incentives, grants, abatements and other public financial assistance tied to a project; detail projected electricity demand and plans for on-site generation or other steps that reduce reliance on the ERCOT grid; identify water sources, projected water use, reuse procedures and water-efficient cooling technologies; outline noise mitigation, light controls, setbacks, traffic improvements and emergency response coordination; and disclose project ownership and controlling interests.
The commission and ERCOT must receive and audit that information before a data center project can move forward, the office said. “The PUCT and ERCOT cannot make decisions to guarantee grid stability and reliability based on substantially incomplete information,” Abbott said.
Companies that fail to comply with the ERCOT audit process will be subject to having their approval denied, according to the governor’s office. The disclosures give state regulators a project-by-project record of power demand, water use and public subsidy as Texas continues to absorb one of the country’s fastest concentrations of data center construction.