Following Texas's data center boom -- energy demands, water use, economic impact, and communities navigating rapid tech expansion.
Hays County, the fast-growing county between Austin and San Antonio, wants developers of data centers and other heavy users of water and electricity to meet specific limits before the county will offer them incentives.
The Public Utility Commission of Texas approved a plan to run a 180-megawatt data center directly off a Pecos County solar farm on Oct. 15, overruling the local wires utility, which had argued the grid study behind the deal was out of date and that the risk would land on its other customers.
Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) Commissioner Wayne Christian praised remarks by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright on responsible data center growth, according to an Oct. 22 news release from the commission.
Dr. Joshua Rhodes did the math so the rest of Texas wouldn't have to.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sent letters to 156 data center developments across the state as part of an ongoing investigation into water use and compliance with Texas law, according to an Oct. 15 news release from his office.
Bastrop County commissioners on Oct. 13 asked the state to hold a public meeting on a proposed natural gas power plant at Cedar Creek, using the one tool the county says it has: a request. The Commissioners Court approved a resolution presented by Precinct 3 Commissioner Mark Meuth.
Taylor's City Council approved a development agreement Oct. 8 that sets the rules for a 664-acre data center and gas-power campus on the edge of town, just five days before the city's planning commission was scheduled to hold a public hearing on a new code for that kind of project.
Any company that wants to plug a data center or other very large power user into the Texas grid must now put down $100,000 for a study and post $50,000 for every megawatt it requests, under a Public Utility Commission rule that took effect Oct. 8.
Taylor's city council will vote Oct. 8 on whether to annex about 664 acres east of town so a data center campus with its own gas-fired power plant can be built under city rules.
When Hill County commissioners voted this spring to pause new data center construction for a year, they were testing a power Texas law does not clearly give them.
Texas will not require data centers to measure how much electricity and water they use inside their buildings.
Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating hundreds of Texas data center developments that have not responded to the Texas Water Development Board's water use survey, according to a Sept. 24 news release from the Office of the Attorney General.
David Thompson lives across the road from one of two data center campuses rising on San Antonio's far West Side, each with its own gas-fired power plant.
Gov. Greg Abbott's Sept. 21 order halting state permits for data centers reaches a group his first pause left alone: projects that plan to build their own power plants instead of solely drawing from the grid.