Texas Froze Data Center Permits, in a Bite

Texas just closed the second door on new data center capacity, and the queue numbers explain why.

• Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to approve no new data center permits until ERCOT and the Texas Water Development Board finish audits.
• Developers have filed 445.8 GW of large load requests. ERCOT has observed 5.9 GW energized, under two percent of what was asked.
• 321 GW of that queue has no study submitted at all, and reporting points to the power audit running into December.
• Texas runs an islanded grid, so the state cannot import power from neighbors when supply runs short.
• Governors in Virginia, Nevada and California moved on data center power and water rules in the same week.

Requests are not capacity. A queue entry buys a place in line, not a substation. If your 2027 AI roadmap assumes Texas, that capacity is now unbooked. Read the full analysis.