Texas audits 474GW of grid requests

Texas ordered an audit before any data center advances through ERCOT’s interconnection process, where more than 474 GW of load requests equal over five times the grid’s record peak demand and data centers account for roughly 90% of new requests. The governor’s audit directive requires each project to disclose public incentives, grid dependence, power and water plans, ownership, and community protections; noncompliant projects will be denied connection. Alongside NERC’s push to model data centers as dynamic grid actors, Texas turns power, water, and provenance evidence into a pre-construction gate, so campus operators should treat interconnection diligence as part of the delivery schedule rather than paperwork after site selection.