The state's power grid managers plan to launch a survey of 461 data centers' water and energy usage next week as part of an audit ordered by Gov. Greg Abbott.
The governor's order has paused power grid connections for some large data centers until the audit is complete.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, which manages the state's main power grid, saiddata centers will have until mid-October to complete the roughly 130-question survey.The survey includes questions about "financial assistance, power self-sufficiency, water and cooling, community impact, and ownership," according to ERCOT.
The survey's participants include 247 large data centers, classified as projects that are requesting at least 75 megawatts of power from the Texas grid — enough to power 18,750 Texas homes during a hot summer day or cold winter night. It also includes 214 "medium" data centers, which are requesting between 25 and 75 megawatts of power from the grid.
Chad Seely, a senior vice president with ERCOT, said the agency will work with a consultant to present its findings to the governor, the Public Utility Commission of Texas and lawmakers.
"We’ll also be able to have essentially a report card where we think that there are deficiencies in responses and be able to make that public as well," he said during a presentation to the commission on Friday.
However, companies' individual responses willremain confidentialand will not be released to the public.
ERCOT unveils “Batch Zero” estimates
ERCOT on Friday also gave preliminary estimates for how many projects will be included included in"Batch Zero," a group of data centers and other large energy consumers that the agency is evaluating so they can join the power grid.
The agency said 362 large energy consumers had been approved for inclusion in the Batch Zero study. Those projects represent requests for191.8 gigawattsof power – roughly double the amount of energy used to power the entire state duringrecord-breaking demand.
According to the agency, 373 projects were excluded from Batch Zero. The projects were requesting more than 300 gigawatts of electricity from the grid.
However, Seely cautioned that the number of projects included in Batch Zero is subject to change.
"We are going through dispute processes," he said. "These numbers will change."
Verification process
As part of the governor’s audit, ERCOT must verify that these Batch Zero projects are actually ready to be built — for example, by providing a lease or property deed and permits.
ERCOT was already planning to take that step as the agency simultaneously conducted an “interconnection study” to determine how much electricity each large data center project could actually receive. Now, it has to complete the verification process before beginning the interconnection study.
So far, the state's power grid managers have sent requests for information to 231 large energy consumers included in Batch Zero as part of the "verification" process. These data centers will have until Sept. 23 to respond to these questions, though they may request an extension.
ERCOT said it will create dashboards that track how many data centers have responded to its community impact survey and verification review. The agency will also release blank templates of the surveys on its website.
"We’ll be able to come back throughout the coming months and give you all kind of a real-time update on the progress of both these work streams and identify any issues," Seely told the commission Friday.
The state's power grid managers plan to present the final results of the audit in December.
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