Overview
- Texas faces a surge of projects seeking grid access, with more than 175 gigawatts requested, yet the grid operator expects about 24 gigawatts of new data centers by 2031.
- To bypass long waits, developers are building private power islands that feed sites directly, with Pacifico planning a West Texas complex and oil majors like Chevron, ExxonMobil and Diamondback preparing gas plants, part of roughly 40 gigawatts tracked for data center use.
- Central Texas is turning into a build zone, with more than 70 projects mapped between Temple and San Antonio and about 5,600 megawatts now under construction in the Austin and San Antonio metros.
- The expansion brings strain and health risks, including a Pacifico permit that cites 33 million tons of yearly emissions, heavy cooling demand of about 2 million liters of water a day per 100 megawatts, and research warning of higher electric bills by 2030.
- Texas draws builders with faster approvals and quicker grid hookups—about three years versus up to seven in Virginia—yet residents have won recent denials in San Marcos and College Station and some counties are considering moratoriums.