ERCOT will finish its statewide audit of Texas data center grid impacts by December.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has announced plans to complete Governor Greg Abbott’s audit of all data centers seeking a grid connection by December. Early last month, Abbott directed ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) to conduct a comprehensive review of all data center projects currently advancing through ERCOT’s interconnection process.

Under the audit’s requirements, both agencies must gather detailed information across several key areas: the extent to which data centers are paying their own way; how much power they generate independently versus relying on the grid; whether they secure independent water supplies or reuse water rather than drawing from local communities; what measures they employ to mitigate impacts on neighboring properties and communities; and the ownership structures and controlling interests behind each project.

ERCOT stated it aims to finish auditing the approximately 300 planned data centers seeking interconnection by December 10, 2026. The operator emphasized that completing this review is a necessary prerequisite for resuming its Batch Zero study process and allowing large-load grid interconnections to proceed. Chad Seely, ERCOT’s senior vice president of regulatory policy, general counsel, and chief compliance officer, noted that the agency will deliver a comprehensive report on the verification and audit process to the PUCT one week prior to its open meeting that month. “We expect to start sending those out as early as the end of the month, and into the first part of September, and then as we move forward into October and November, there may be additional rounds of RFIs,” Seely said.

Texas is rapidly emerging as a major hub for data center development. ERCOT is currently evaluating more than 474GW of connection requests—exceeding five times the state’s record peak electricity demand. Approximately 90 percent of that requested capacity stems from data center load.

Industry reports suggest the audit could delay up to 20 percent of the United States’ total data center pipeline. The financial implications of Abbott’s directive, which affects nearly 49.8GW of projects awaiting grid connection, could exceed $8 billion by the first quarter of 2027. Should the pause extend beyond the current timeline, the associated risks would intensify significantly.