Coverage of the Texas electric grid and energy sector -- ERCOT reliability, generation capacity, rising power demand, rates, and the policy decisions shaping how the state keeps the lights on.
The Texas House Committee on State Affairs will take public testimony Wednesday, Aug. 19, on the two biggest fights on the state’s grid — data centers and the proposed 765,000-volt transmission lines — according to the hearing notice posted on the Legislature’s schedule.
The Railroad Commission of Texas issued 693 original drilling permits in July 2026, including 612 permits to drill new oil or gas wells, according to an Aug. 6 news release from the agency.
Governor Greg Abbott announced that data center companies Skybox, Digital Realty, and Mara will comply with the standards and guidelines he established for data center development in Texas, according to an Aug. 7 press release from the governor's office.
The chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas has called his fellow commissioners and the state's grid operator into a special open meeting this Friday, Aug. 14, to talk through the policy questions hanging over the Permian Basin power-line buildout — while promising that no final decision on the Howard-Solstice line, the biggest piece of that buildout, will be made in the room.
The Railroad Commission of Texas reported that statewide crude oil production reached a preliminary 129,523,336 barrels in May 2026, an average of roughly 4.18 million barrels per day.
Gov. Greg Abbott announced that QTS Data Centers has committed to comply with the statewide data center standards and guidelines he established earlier this summer and to participate in the state's comprehensive audit, according to an Aug. 6 news release from the governor's office.
The Public Utility Commission of Texas is reminding residents of consumer protections designed to keep electricity service connected during periods of extreme heat, according to an Aug. 4 news release from the agency.
Gov. Greg Abbott has announced a Texas Energy Fund grant totaling more than $8 million to strengthen electric reliability for members of the Bailey County Electric Cooperative Association in the Texas Panhandle and South Plains, according to an Aug. 5 news release from the governor's office.
The Railroad Commission of Texas has issued its second permit for a deep geopressured geothermal well dedicated to energy storage, approving a well in Galveston County for Quidnet Energy Deployment LLC, the agency announced in a July 30 news release.
Texas has stopped telling data centers whether they can plug into the state's power grid, and no one has said when it will start again.