Texas Governor Greg Abbott has paused new grid connections for large power users including data centers while an audit of applications is carried out, a move that caught Dallas-based DataBank CEO Raul Martynek partly off guard. Connection requests totaling 470GW are currently queued with grid operator ERCOT, and the audit could affect nearly 49.8GW of projects seeking grid connections, potentially costing upward of $8 billion by the first quarter of 2027 according to analysts. DataBank has 1.3GW of capacity installed or under construction, with 40 percent located in Texas, including a planned fourth building at its Red Oak campus that would add 60MW. Martynek said the requirements are manageable and that the state will remain a viable market, while BloombergNEF figures suggest 20 percent of planned US data center capacity is at risk from Abbott's actions.
Texas had been on track to surpass Northern Virginia as the largest US data center market, making a statewide grid connection pause a significant disruption to the industry's most active growth corridor. The scale of projects in the ERCOT queue and the potential $8 billion cost exposure through early 2027 illustrate how regulatory intervention in a single state can reshape national capacity projections.
DataBank's CEO commenting on the Texas data center moratorium and midterm election effects is high-value industry intelligence from a named executive at a major colocation operator, covering two of the most consequential policy topics in the sector right now.