Governor Greg Abbott announced that New Era Energy & Digital, Switch and Hanwha will comply with the statewide standards and guidelines his office established for data centers, according to an Aug. 17 news release.
The commitments land as Texas tries to absorb a wave of data center construction without straining its electric grid or its water supply. The release 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,” Governor Greg Abbott said. “They must not pass costs on to Texas families or interfere with their quality of life.”
The governor set the standards earlier this summer, directing the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to require that data centers pay for their 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of electricity for Texans, avoid disrupting residential neighborhoods and end reliance on what the release described as outdated taxpayer-funded incentives.
The release said the two agencies will also examine each project’s disclosure of taxpayer-funded incentives, grants and abatements; projected electricity demand and plans for on-site generation; water sources, projected use, reuse procedures and water-efficient cooling technologies; measures to limit effects on neighbors such as noise mitigation, light controls, setbacks, traffic improvements and emergency response coordination; and project ownership and controlling interests. Both must receive and audit that information before a project can move forward.
“The PUCT and ERCOT cannot make decisions to guarantee grid stability and reliability based on substantially incomplete information,” Governor Abbott said in the release. Any data center company that fails to comply with ERCOT’s audit process will be subject to having its approval denied, the release said.
The governor’s office said that since the directives were issued, data centers across the state have either announced full compliance or announced that they are ending their Texas projects.