Following controversy around the rapid influx of new data center construction in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott reiterated standards and guidelines he established earlier this summer.
“Let’s be clear: the growth of data centers must not come before the quality of life of Texans,” said Governor Abbott.
“I established clear guardrails to ensure data centers protect our electric grid, conserve our water, respect our neighborhoods, and pay their own way. They must not pass costs on to Texas families or interfere with their quality of life.”
Earlier this summer, Governor Abbott established clear, commonsense statewide standards to ensure data center development does not come at the expense of Texas families or communities. The Governor directed the Public Utilities Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to ensure 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.
- Do not disrupt residential neighborhoods to preserve Texas’ quality of life.
- Pay their own way and eliminate reliance on outdated taxpayer-funded incentives.
Building on those standards, Governor Abbott also directed the PUCT and ERCOT to pause all pending data center interconnection requests until each project undergoes and successfully completes ERCOT’s comprehensive audit.
In addition, the PUCT and ERCOT will examine each data center project and how they will:
- Pay their own way by disclosing all taxpayer-funded incentives, grants, abatements, and other public financial assistance tied to the project.
- Provide their own power by detailing projected electricity demand and plans for on-site generation or other measures to reduce reliance on the ERCOT grid.
- Protect Texas water resources by identifying water sources, projected water use, water reuse procedures, and water-efficient cooling technologies.
- Outline measures to reduce impacts on neighboring property owners and communities, including noise mitigation, light controls, setbacks, traffic improvements, emergency response coordination, and other community protect measures.
- Provide full transparency by disclosing project ownership and controlling interests.
Any data center company that fails to comply with ERCOT’s audit process will be denied the ability to interconnect to the Texas grid.
The PUCT and ERCOT must receive and audit this information before data center projects can move forward.
“The PUCT and ERCOT cannot make decisions to guarantee grid stability and reliability based on substantially incomplete information,” Governor Abbott continued.
Any data center company that fails to comply with ERCOT’s audit process will be subject to having its approval denied.
Since Governor Abbott issued these commonsense directives, data centers across the state have either announced their full compliance or announced they are ending their data center project. Those standards provide guardrails that protect Texas communities.
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