Data Centers

On Monday, the governor ordered the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to audit all data centers wanting to connect to the state’s power grid.

Council member Moses Garcia and acting Police Chief Jesus Mancillas were arrested last week, the latest shakeup among leadership in the southern Dallas County city.

Solar and battery power generations have helped bolster ERCOT’s grid, but data center, population and economic growth is slated to surge demand.

Data centers are no longer an emerging industry. Driven by cloud computing, crypto mining and artificial intelligence, they are spreading rapidly across Texas, and the projected cost of the tax break has climbed into the billions. On Monday, the state senate finance committee asked if it was time to end the sales tax break for data centers.

KUT News requested tours of several data centers in Hays, Travis and Williamson counties. Most companies either declined or did not respond. But the Texas Advanced Computing Center let us peek behind the curtain.

ERCOT and the PUCT said they've already taken steps to regulate large energy consumers and called for the state legislature to expand their authority.

Thirteen years ago, when Texas created the tax deal for data centers, state lawmakers expected to lose — at most — $14 million in tax revenue in Texas' next 2-year budget cycle. Now, state projections show it could lead to Texas forgoing more than $3 billion in the 2028-29 biennium.

Companies planning Fort Worth data centers detail resource usage, sustainability in face of growing concern in North Texas.

Georgia Tech professor Daniel Yue studies the impact of data centers on the economy.

Diode Ventures said Gov. Greg Abbott's tougher stance on data center development in rural areas drove the decision to cancel the project.

A Hood County judge dismissed a lawsuit over two proposed data center projects, allowing the county to continue reviewing the developments after rejecting developers' legal challenge.

Granbury residents filed recall petitions against the mayor and four council members, alleging a loss of public trust over Project Patriot and transparency concerns tied to the proposed data center.