AUSTIN, Texas — Texas regulators said Friday that an audit of data centers could take several months, potentially delaying approvals for new facilities as the state reviews their effects on electricity, water and local communities.
Gov. Greg Abbott earlier this month directed the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) to pause approvals for new data centers while the agencies conduct the review.
During their first meeting since Abbott issued the directive, regulators outlined plans to gather information on data centers’ energy and water use, government incentives, ownership and community impacts. ERCOT and PUCT are expected to discuss more detailed plans next week.
ERCOT faces a large backlog of requests from major electricity users seeking connections to the Texas grid. Large consumers have requested about 474 gigawatts of power, more than five times the state’s record peak demand. Data centers account for about 90% of those requests.
The moratorium has also put ERCOT’s “Batch Zero” process on hold. The program was designed to evaluate a group of large energy users seeking to connect to the grid.
ERCOT said it plans to request information from about 250 to 300 large energy consumers eligible for the Batch Zero review. The agency will also collect community-impact information from medium-sized consumers seeking between 25 and 75 megawatts.
Data centers that already have approval to connect to the ERCOT grid and are under construction are not subject to the pause. The moratorium also excludes facilities with their own power generation and data centers outside the ERCOT service area.
ERCOT had planned to complete the Batch Zero study in April and notify developers of their potential electricity allocations. The agency said it does not yet know how the audit will affect that timeline.
“ERCOT does not yet know how long the verification and audit process will take or how the delay will impact the study timeline,” the agency said in a filing with the PUCT.
PUCT Commissioner Courtney Hjaltman said the length of the audit will depend partly on how quickly data center developers provide the requested information.
“You answer this audit, you provide the information, and that’s when you’ll know,” Hjaltman said Friday. “So it’s up to you to answer and do it well.”