THE PEOPLE VS. DATA CENTERS
As November elections draw near, it seems like the governing party put its finger in the wind and decided they’d better do something to quell the enormous public backlash against new data centers in Texas.
But this moratorium isn’t going to touch the proposed Beacon Data Center in Dove Creek, or any other self-powered operations.
On Monday, Gov. Greg Abbott announced a moratorium on approving any data centers seeking to connect to the state’s power grid, proposing projects be audited by the Public Utility Commission and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, as the governor seeks to compel developers to report on:
- Efforts to reduce impacts on local communities
- Facility ownership
- Power requirements and generation capacity
- Tax breaks they expect to receive
- Water usage and cooling requirements
“Our top priority is to protect Texans’ safety and quality of life,” Abbott said in his statement. “Any project that fails to comply with the requirements set forth by the PUCT and ERCOT, and by state law, must be denied connection to the Texas grid. Simply put, Texans must come first.”
Data centers that have been planning to employ on-site power generation are apparently exempt from the auditing process as they don’t require any connection to the grid.
Data centers like the one underway in Tom Green County, developed by Beacon Data Centers, have been advertised for their lack of connection to the grid, receiving all of their energy from hundreds of on-site natural gas generators.
For opponents of that data center who have been hoping for support from Austin, the governor’s order doesn’t seem to apply.
The governor’s directive to the PUC and ERCOT comes as news reports last week reveal Texas regulators are currently tracking more than 1,800 projects through ERCOT’s queue, which combined represent more than 474 gigawatts of electricity — exceeding the grid’s capacity by more than five times its current capability.
According to the governor, about 90 percent of the new power requests are for data centers.
According to original reporting from The Texas Tribune, there are at least 335 data centers operating in Texas, which currently is the second-largest market these facilities in the nation, trailing only Virginia.
Texas is forecast to be the leading state for data centers in the near future, as the Texas Tribune’s staff identifying at least 248 planned data centers in serious development, and hundreds more in early planning phases.
