The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) have recently approved a new “batch” process to expedite the connection of multiple large electricity users, including data centers, to the Texas power grid.
The plan is intended to streamline the processing of more than 438,000 megawatts of large-load requests, nearly 89 percent of which are from data centers, according to ERCOT.
As part of the new process, large users may be required to develop onsite self‑generation to supplement their power needs and must agree that ERCOT can limit their electricity use when transmission constraints arise.
Under the batch framework, large interconnection projects will be studied in groups, with the first group known as “Batch Zero,” expected to receive project classifications in August 2026 and have a final transmission plan published in fall 2027; applications for “Batch One” are expected to open in summer 2027.
This expedited framework was strongly supported by the Data Center Coalition, with Cameron Poursoltan noting that some data center projects have been waiting years for interconnection.
ERCOT President and CEO Pablo Vegas said that “Texas is experiencing an energy transformation unlike anything we have seen before,” as ERCOT’s preliminary forecast suggests peak demand could nearly quadruple by 2032, though officials have warned these projections may be inflated by speculative connection requests.
The change follows reports that several large data centers recently failed grid reliability tests, raising concerns about their potential to destabilize the Texas grid. It also comes after Gov. Greg Abbott cautioned state regulators that data centers should pay their own infrastructure costs.
