Texas governor freezes 1,800 data center projects as power demand hits 5x grid peak

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the state's grid regulators on Monday to halt new data center approvals until every applicant discloses its water use, power draw, tax breaks, and ownership structure. The state is not banning data centers; it is asking, for the first time, who exactly is trying to plug into the grid. The gate sits on the largest data center queue in the country: 1,800 projects, about 90% of them data centers, asking for a combined 474 gigawatts of grid power. ERCOT's all-time peak demand is around 95 GW.

Abbott routed the order through the Public Utility Commission of Texas and ERCOT, not the legislature. The move is a disclosure-gated pause, not a ban. Applicants who complete the audit can still connect; the rest are stuck behind a new information cost that did not exist last week.

The trigger was a survey PUCT sent to 377 data center operators. Only 28 had responded at the time of reporting. The audit requirement, in effect, says the rest cannot move forward until they answer the same questions. Required disclosures include tax break information, power use and generation, water use and cooling operations, community impact reduction measures, and facility ownership.

Most of the 1,800 projects in line are speculative. Most have not broken ground, secured transformers, or signed power purchase agreements. The 474 GW figure is requested load, not committed load. The five-times-peak ratio is real, and it is the ratio of requested power to grid that has ever flowed.

The scope is narrower than a ban. The order only affects projects inside ERCOT, the grid operator for most of Texas. El Paso runs its own utility and is unaffected. Projects bringing their own generation (behind-the-meter gas turbines, on-site solar, or co-located batteries) are also exempt. Compare that to New York's two-year statewide moratorium on new fossil-fueled data centers.

Abbott framed the move as protecting Texans' safety and quality of life. One East Texas project already withdrew after falling short of the new standards. Data center opponents, organized around water use and grid strain, called the audit step welcome but insufficient. Their ask is legislative: a siting process, water-use caps, and community-benefit agreements that the governor's order does not establish.

The next test is whether the disclosure gate actually filters the queue. If most of the 1,800 applicants reapply and complete the audit, the pause is a paperwork delay. If the disclosure cost, particularly the requirement to name owners and tax-break recipients, pushes speculators to drop out, the queue could shrink sharply. PUCT has not said how long the audit will take or which applicants it will clear first.