Articles · Power and data centers
Batch Zero, and the calendar with a hole in it
ERCOT suspended a Batch Zero notification deadline after the governor ordered a data center audit. The signed directive and its press release describe the gate differently.
Read the story
ERCOT's large-load connection process lost a scheduled milestone when Governor Greg Abbott ordered an audit of data centers seeking grid access. The grid operator's market notice said service providers would not receive Batch Zero classifications by the announced deadline.
ERCOT said it would seek an exception to the planning timelines and update the notice after filing with the Public Utility Commission. That is a stated next step, not evidence that a replacement schedule had been approved.
Read the signed condition
The governor's signed letter conditions further approvals on completion of the audit. The accompanying press release describes a halt to projects moving forward. Those formulations aren't interchangeable when describing what ERCOT may do during the pause.
The audit demands information on tax incentives and water supplies. The governor tied it to projects that had not answered the state's existing water and power survey. These are verification requirements, not a finding that every proposed project failed them.
Compliance claims are not audit results
The governor's office later said the Data Center Coalition would comply with the standards. It also said an unnamed project ended operations before construction because it could not comply. The release did not identify that project.
The missing date
The commission's calendar and ERCOT's notice named different meeting dates. A calendar entry alone doesn't establish the disposition of an exception request. The filing and a subsequent official scheduling record are needed to close that gap.
Sources for this story
- ERCOT Market Notice M-A080326-01, Update Regarding Batch Zero Timelines and Processes
- The Governor's signed directive letter to the PUCT and ERCOT
- Office of the Governor press release, Governor Abbott Directs Comprehensive Data Center Audit
- Office of the Governor press release, Data Center Coalition Commits To Comply
- The Public Utility Commission's own calendar feed
Claim-by-claim verification · 21 claims
ERCOT recorded receiving Governor Abbott's directive letter on August 3rd, 2026, ordering a verification process before any data center Large Load advances through interconnection.
Today, August 3, 2026, Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc. (ERCOT) received a letter from Governor Greg Abbott directing ERCOT to conduct a verification process before advancing any data center Large Loads through the interconnection process.
The directive stopped ERCOT's Batch Zero clock. ERCOT stated it would not tell service providers how any Large Load was classified in the Batch Zero Interconnection Study by the August 7th, 2026 date.
ERCOT will not notify each Interconnecting Distribution Service Provider and Transmission Service Provider of how any Large Load is classified in the Batch Zero Interconnection Study by August 7, 2026
ERCOT said it would seek a good cause exception from the Batch Zero timelines in Planning Guide Sections 5 and 9. The filing was to come ahead of the Public Utility Commission's August 20th, 2026 open meeting.
ERCOT will file, in advance of the Public Utility Commission of Texas's (PUCT's) August 20, 2026 open meeting, a request for a good cause exception related to the timelines and process for Batch Zero set forth in ERCOT Planning Guide Sections 5 and 9.
ERCOT committed to updating the market notice once the good cause exception filing reached the Public Utility Commission.
ERCOT will update this Market Notice once the filing has been made with the PUCT.
ERCOT filed the pause as Market Notice M-A080326-01, under the subject line Update Regarding Batch Zero Timelines and Processes.
Update Regarding Batch Zero Timelines and Processes
Abbott's letter puts the interconnection queue at approximately 474 gigawatts of requests to connect to the Texas grid.
is currently considering approximately 474 gigawatts of requests to connect to the Texas grid
The Governor's press release describes the same queue as approximately over 474 gigawatts, a wording the signed letter does not use.
currently considering approximately over 474 gigawatts of requests to connect to the Texas grid
The letter states that approximately 90 percent of the new power requests are data centers.
Approximately 90 percent of the new power requests are data centers.
The queue is described as more than five times Texas' record peak electricity demand for ERCOT.
more than five times Texas' record peak electricity demand for ERCOT
On August 3rd, 2026, Abbott directed the PUCT and ERCOT to run a comprehensive verification and audit of every data center advancing through ERCOT's interconnection process.
Governor Greg Abbott today directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to conduct a comprehensive verification and audit of all data centers advancing through ERCOT's interconnection process.
The audit is a gate rather than a study. No data center project moves forward until it is complete, and a project that fails the requirements is denied connection to the grid.
The PUCT and ERCOT must complete this audit before any data center project moves forward. Any project that fails to comply with the requirements set forth by the PUCT and ERCOT will be denied connection to the Texas grid.
The signed letter words the gate more narrowly than the press release does, halting approvals rather than all forward movement.
before any additional data centers are approved to move forward
Abbott grounds the audit in data centers failing to answer the commission's existing survey of water and power usage required under the General Appropriations Act.
survey measuring water and power usage under the General Appropriations Act makes this necessary
The directive requires each project to disclose every tax incentive, grant and abatement it has received or expects to receive.
That would include all state and local tax incentives, grants, abatements, or other public financial assistance received or expected to be received
The directive requires each project to say whether it brings and reuses its own water or draws water local communities need.
The extent to which data centers are bringing their own water and reusing their own water as opposed to using water needed by local communities.
On August 18th, 2026, the Governor's office said the Data Center Coalition, the sector's membership body, will comply with his data center standards.
the Data Center Coalition, the data center sector's membership coalition, will comply with the standards and guidelines he established for data centers
The August 18th release states that one data center could not comply and ended operations before construction began. The release does not name it.
They are being universally implemented by data centers across the state. One data center that could not comply chose to end operations before even beginning construction.
Abbott framed the guardrails around four demands on data centers, the grid, water, neighborhoods and paying their own way.
I established clear guardrails to ensure data centers protect our electric grid, conserve our water, respect our neighborhoods, and pay their own way,
The commission's calendar lists an open meeting on Friday, August 21st, 2026, the day after the meeting ERCOT named.
Open Meeting - Friday, August 21, 2026
The commission's calendar lists a public comment deadline on Friday, September 4th, 2026.
Public Comment Deadline - Friday, September 4, 2026
Project 58482, the proposed rule on Large Load Demand Management Service, took a comment on August 18th, 2026 from Modern Tex Consulting.
Comments of Modern Tex Consulting LLC on Performance Reporting and Evaluation Under Proposed 16 TAC § 25.521