Data Centers
Will Texas Give Communities More Say Over Data Centers? Statements From Abbott, Patrick and Burrows Offer Clues
Will Texas lawmakers give communities more say over where data centers are built?
Latest in Data Centers
Data Centers
Hays County Draft Rules Would Tie Data Center Incentives to Water and Power Limits
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.
Agencies
Abbott’s Permit Freeze Reaches Data Centers That Build Their Own Power, Including a 5-Gigawatt Panhandle Plan
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.
Agencies
Governor Abbott Directs TCEQ to Halt Data Center Permits Until ERCOT Audit Is Complete
Governor Greg Abbott on Sept. 21 directed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to halt all permits sought by data centers until the Electric Reliability Council of Texas completes its audit of data center projects, according to a news release from the Governor's office.
Data Centers
Data Center Coalition Asks ERCOT to Spare Big Users From Being Cut First If They Bring Their Own Power
A coalition of data center developers wants the Texas grid operator to change the rule that decides who gets shut off first when electricity runs short, and it is arguing that the state's largest new power customers will build outside the grid entirely if the answer stays no.
Agencies
Texas Attorney General Investigates Taylor AI Data Center Built on Land Deeded for Parkland
Attorney General Ken Paxton has opened an investigation into a proposed artificial intelligence data center in Taylor, examining whether the land was deeded more than 25 years ago to be held for public parkland.
Agencies
Analysis: Texas Pumps Up a Billion Gallons of Wastewater a Day. The Only Question Left Is Who Pays to Clean It.
Every day, Texas oil and gas wells bring roughly 26 million barrels of salt water to the surface — more than a billion gallons.
Data Centers
Texas Data Centers Must Answer Water Questions Under Oath by Oct. 12, and Refusing Is a Crime
About 1,200 feet from Heather Peysen's house on Three Way Road in Archer County, a company wants to build a data center that would pull 1,000 megawatts off the Texas grid — more than one percent of the record demand the entire state hit this summer.
Agencies
Governor Abbott Directs TWDB to Penalize Data Centers Over Water Reporting Failures
Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Water Development Board on Sept. 14 to compel major water users, including data centers, to comply with state water use reporting requirements and to impose legal consequences for past and future failures to do so.
Data Centers
OPINION: Abbott Bought Texas Time. Now the Legislature Must Act.
By Sam Romain On August 3, Governor Abbott told the Public Utility Commission and ERCOT that no new data center could connect to the Texas grid until the state audits every project in the queue.
Data Centers
Texas Grid Operator Will Ask 461 Data Centers About Their Water, Power and Owners
The organization that runs the power grid for most of Texas told state regulators on Sept. 11 that it will send a survey of roughly 130 questions this week to 461 data center projects waiting to plug in, asking who owns them, where their water and cooling will come from, whether they can supply any of their own electricity, and what financial help they have sought from the communities around them.
Data Centers
Texas Grid Operator Starts Demanding Sworn Proof From Data Centers Waiting to Plug In
The agency that runs the electric grid for most of Texas began sending formal demands for documents on Sept. 9 to the companies behind the giant power users it has tentatively placed at the front of the connection line, and warned that any one of them that fails to answer completely within 10 business days will be dropped from that line.
Data Centers
Texas Regulators Move to Cut What Giant Power Users Forfeit for Walking Away From the Grid
The Public Utility Commission of Texas is set to vote Sept. 11 on the permanent rule for connecting the state's largest new electricity users to the grid.
Data Centers
County Judges Tell Senators They Have ‘No Authority’ Over Data Centers as Industry Pledges Millions
Three data center companies told a Senate committee Sept. 1 that they cool without fresh water and will pay for rural pipelines.