Texas grid slammed by 519 power-hungry AI data center requests in just two years

Proposed AI data centers are poised to put a new kind of pressure on Texas' power system as their electricity needs climb, The Texas Tribune reported.

That potential demand is arriving as the grid has come under intense scrutiny in recent years.

What's happening?

According to The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) records as of May, the grid operator received 519 requests over the past two years from large power users seeking to connect, up from 24 in the prior year, The Tribune revealed. 

Most of those requests reportedly came from data centers linked to the artificial intelligence boom. ERCOT President and CEO Pablo Vegas framed it as "an unprecedented change in the pace of growth" in an interview with the publication. 

Altogether, the proposed projects would amount to an estimated 438,595 megawatts of possible demand, and about 90% of that total was tied to data centers aiming to come online by 2030.

Not all of those projects are expected to get built, but the backlog is still enormous. The Tribune found at least 248 planned data centers across Texas.

"The projections are insane," Rice University researcher Dominic Boyer told the outlet. "The fact that that much is being proposed sort of suggests that there is this absolute sea change happening in terms of electricity demand."

Why does it matter?

Because advanced AI models take vast computing power to train and operate, their growth is increasingly becoming a power-grid issue.

Their expansion brings tradeoffs of greater electricity consumption, more water use, and the risk that ordinary customers could face higher costs.

Those concerns carry extra weight in Texas, where many residents still remember the devastating grid failure during the 2021 winter storm. 

While AI harbors potential for optimizing clean energy systems, which could pay major dividends in a clean energy haven like Texas, it undoubtedly comes with major drawbacks. The Tribune's reporting points to not just threats to the grid, but also a reliance on gas-fueled power plants that will create a huge amount of pollution.

Water use is also emerging as a major concern, the publication noted. A recent white paper from The University of Texas at Austin estimated that data centers could account for 3% to 9% of Texas water use by 2040, compared with less than 1% today. In a drought-prone state, that projection has alarmed many communities. 

What's being done?

ERCOT is changing how it reviews these projects to better assess what is actually likely to be built, as The Tribune noted. 

State officials are also looking at ways to protect grid reliability during emergencies. The Tribune pointed out a law passed last year allows ERCOT to direct large data centers with backup power to cut their grid use during emergencies.

Regulators are still debating who should bear the cost of the power lines and other infrastructure needed to serve the new demand. At the local level, residents are beginning to push back. For many areas, it is perhaps too late to stem the tide.

"This is an issue that is affecting the whole globe and certainly the country," Vegas concluded to The Tribune. "Everybody is trying to figure out how to do this in a reliable, stable way."

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