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Texas regulators have drawn a line in the sand for data centers and crypto miners hoping to tap into the state’s power grid. The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) have set December 10, 2026, as the deadline for operators to prove their interconnection projects are real, funded, and ready to build.
The verification requirement means operators must hand over ownership records, site access permissions, purchase orders, and contracts.
A queue that got out of hand
By late 2025, ERCOT was tracking roughly 226 GW of large-load interconnection requests. Approximately 474 GW of total interconnection requests have been submitted to ERCOT, with around 90% attributed to data centers. Crypto-mining operations account for a notable but smaller slice of the pie.
Large-load requests, defined as those requiring 75 MW or more of power, have been piling up as artificial intelligence workloads, cloud computing demand, and Bitcoin mining operations have all converged on Texas.
The problem is that submitting an interconnection request is easy. Regulators grew concerned that a significant portion of the queue consisted of speculative or zombie projects, tying up grid planning resources and potentially distorting infrastructure investment decisions.
Governor Abbott steps in
The December deadline traces back to an order from Governor Greg Abbott, issued on August 3, 2026, directing a comprehensive audit of ERCOT’s interconnection queue.
In response to the governor’s order, ERCOT paused elements of its Batch Zero study process for large-load interconnections. The grid operator plans to seek timeline relief from PUCT to re-evaluate the backlog of requests.
The verification process is designed to separate real projects from paper ones. Operators who can’t produce evidence that they’ve secured land, ordered equipment, or signed construction contracts by December 10 risk having their applications pulled from the queue entirely.
What this means for crypto miners and data center operators
The consumer angle matters too. Every new data center or mining facility that connects to the grid requires transmission infrastructure, and those costs often get socialized across all ratepayers. By thinning the queue, regulators aim to ensure that infrastructure spending aligns with projects that will actually materialize.
If a substantial portion of the 226 GW in requests gets culled, it would ease pressure on generation capacity forecasts. If most projects pass verification, the conversation pivots back to whether Texas can build enough generation fast enough to keep the lights on.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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