Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered that all new data centre projects in the state undergo audits by the Public Utility Commission of Texas and grid operator ERCOT, marking a sharp shift away from the state's traditionally light-touch approach to development. The move comes as Texas, second only to Virginia in data centre hosting, faces a surge in electricity connection requests that threatens to overwhelm its power grid, with officials fearing rising costs and strain on infrastructure if left unchecked.

ERCOT's interconnection queue has ballooned from 233 gigawatts in January to 474 gigawatts today, roughly 90% of it linked to data centres, and now stands at more than five times the grid's peak demand, though many proposals are expected to fall through before completion. Abbott has directed regulators to gather detailed information on each project's electricity and water demands, noise and light mitigation, tax incentive use and ownership, having previously relied on an unsuccessful voluntary survey. While solar capacity has quadrupled since 2021 and helped keep prices relatively low, electricity costs have begun climbing, partly driven by data centres and crypto-mining operations.