Ercot
Ercot
Ercot "ERCOT weighs how growing data center industry could impact Texas power grid" These "large data centers" they speak of are likely AI data centers. Those facilities consume daily goods at a super high rate. Example. Here's how much water it takes to run them. These numbers are from FOUR years ago so it has increased exponentially. 👉 A medium-sized data center can consume up to roughly 110 million gallons of water per year for cooling purposes, equivalent to the annual water usage of approximately 1,000 households. 👉 Larger data centers can each "drink" up to 5 million gallons per day, or about 1.8 billion annually, usage equivalent to a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people. 👉 Together, the nation's 5,426 data centers consume billions of gallons of water annually. 👉 One report estimated that U.S. data centers consume 449 million gallons of water per day and 163.7 billion gallons annually (as of 2021). 👉 A 2016 report found that fewer than one-third of data center operators track water consumption. Water consumption is expected to continue increasing as data centers grow in number, size, and complexity. ........... ERCOT weighs how growing data center industry could impact Texas power grid. ERCOT leaders are reviewing how the rapid growth of data centers could affect grid reliability and power use across Texas. December 9, 2025 HOUSTON - ERCOT is speaking up about the growth in data centers across the state. They said they're seeing applications for the large load centers come in at record rates. These large load centers could be for data or crypto miners. All applications must go through special processes before being connected. This is to ensure they don't de-stabilize the grid because of how much energy they require. ERCOT said they received 225 applications for new large load interconnection requests in 2025 alone and the vast majority are for data centers. ERCOT officials said this totals 233 gigawatts, which is an almost 300 percent 👆increase from 2024. "We have outgrown the process that was established for reviewing these large loads. It was originally set up for, we were thinking about 40 to 50 loads back in the 2022 time frame," ERCOT Vice President of System Planning and Weatherization Kristi Hobbs said. Most of the LLC requests need at least one gigawatt of energy per site. For context, a gigawatt could power 100,000,000 LED light bulbs. "The amount of loads and how we study them, we can no longer be looking at them individually because we have to look at their impact to each other as well," Hobbs said. As for how these centers could impact the grid, especially as winter rolls around, ERCOT officials said right now they see a lower chance of going into emergency operations or rolling blackouts. 👈 Yeah right......... 🙄🙄🙄 www.khou.com/article /news/local/texas/er cot-texas-data-cente rs-power-grid-i ....... Another article: HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A new report shows a growing industry in Texas could put a strain on the state's power grid this winter. Winter power problems have been on Houston resident, Dolores Hidalgo's mind ever since the winter storm in 2021. In February 2021, an University of Houston report shows more than two-thirds of all Texans lost power for nearly three days during a winter storm. "I think about it every year," Hidalgo said. "I get worried that we're going to lose power and it's going to be for weeks, and we're going to be cold." Five years later, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation has a new assessment on how prepared the state's grid, ERCOT, is this winter. The report shows ERCOT could be strained this winter due to data centers. They're facilities that house IT infrastructure systems. "These are very, very large loads," Energy Ogre COO, David Kinchen, explained. "We're not talking like this is a large warehouse of load where a normal warehouse is mostly empty. We're talking like these are refinery-type loads." An industry that's growing rapidly. Texas Comptroller figures show that before the winter storm five years ago, there were 13 registered data centers. Right now, there are nearly 100. An increase, the new report said, that could impact ERCOT. 
While more data centers are here, Kinchen said right now the state can mainly handle the demand because it has added more ways to create power. However, he said there's concern that'll change. "During our peak last year, we were around 80-85 megawatts of peak load," Kinchen said. "They're talking about interconnecting another 100 megawatts of datacenters." For now, ERCOT data shows the chances of outages are only one percent in January. Low chances that some have a hard time believing after what happened nearly five years ago. "I feel like every year something happens," Hidalgo said. "I really hope they prove me wrong." Experts said here's how data centers could impact power this winter. Normally, they said the most power is used in the morning, when you wake up. However, these facilities run all the time, which could change peak periods and impact power in the future. ABC13 reached out to ERCOT to ask about winter preparedness and the impact of data centers, but we didn't receive a response. abc13.com/post/new-r eport-shows-data-cen ters-could-strain-te xas-grid-winter
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Ercot "ERCOT weighs how growing data center industry could impact Texas power grid" These "large data centers" they speak of are likely AI data centers. Those facilities consume daily goods at a super high rate. Example. Here's how much water it takes to run them. These numbers are from FOUR years ago so it has increased exponentially. 👉 A medium-sized data center can consume up to roughly 110 million gallons of water 
er year for cooling purposes, equivalent to the annual water usage of approximately 1,000 households. 👉 Larger data centers can each "drink" up to 5 million gallons per day, or about 1.8 billion annually, usage equivalent to a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people. 👉 Together, the nation's 5,426 data centers consume billions of gallons of water annually. 👉 One report estimated that U.S. data centers consume 449 million gallons of water per day and 163.7 billion gallons annually (as of 2021). 👉 A 2016 report found that fewer than one-third of data center operators track water consumption. Water consumption is expected to continue increasing as data centers grow in number, size, and complexity. ........... ERCOT weighs how growing data center industry could impact Texas power grid. ERCOT leaders are reviewing how the rapid growth of data centers could affect grid reliability and power use across Texas. December 9, 2025 HOUSTON - ERCOT is speaking up about the growth in data centers across the state. They said they're seeing applications for the large load centers come in at record rates. These large load centers could be for data or crypto miners. All applications must go through special processes before being connected. This is to ensure they don't de-stabilize the grid because of how much energy they require. ERCOT said they received 225 applications for new large load interconnection requests in 2025 alone and the vast majority are for data centers. ERCOT officials said this totals 233 gigawatts, which is an almost 300 percent 👆increase from 2024. "We have outgrown the process that was established for reviewing these large loads. It was originally set up for, we were thinking about 40 to 50 loads back in the 2022 time frame," ERCOT Vice President of System Planning and Weatherization Kristi Hobbs said. Most of the LLC requests need at least one gigawatt of energy per site. For context, a gigawatt could power 100,000,000 LED light bulbs. "The amount of loads and how we study them, we can no longer be looking at them individually because we have to look at their impact to each other as well," Hobbs said. As for how these centers could impact the grid, especially as winter rolls around, ERCOT officials said right now they see a lower chance of going into emergency operations or rolling blackouts. 👈 Yeah right......... 🙄🙄🙄 www.khou.com/article /news/local/texas/er cot-texas-data-cente rs-power-grid-i ....... Another article: HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A new report shows a growing industry in Texas could put a strain on the state's power grid this winter. Winter power problems have been on Houston resident, Dolores Hidalgo's mind ever since the winter storm in 2021. In February 2021, an University of Houston report shows more than two-thirds of all Texans lost power for nearly three days during a winter storm. "I think about it every year," Hidalgo said. "I get worried that we're going to lose power and it's going to be for weeks, and we're going to be cold." Five years later, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation has a new assessment on how prepared the state's grid, ERCOT, is this winter. The report shows ERCOT could be strained this winter due to data centers. They're facilities that house IT infrastructure systems. "These are very, very large loads," Energy Ogre COO, David Kinchen, explained. "We're not talking like this is a large warehouse of load where a normal warehouse is mostly empty. We're talking like these are refinery-type loads." An industry that's growing rapidly. Texas Comptroller figures show that before the winter storm five years ago, there were 13 registered data centers. Right now, there are nearly 100. An increase, the new report said, that could impact ERCOT. While more data centers are here, Kinchen said right now the state can mainly handle the demand because it has added more ways to create power. However, he said there's concern that'll change. "During our peak last year, we were around 80-85 megawatts of peak load," Kinchen said. "They're talking about interconnecting another 100 megawatts of datacenters." For now, ERCOT data shows the chances of outages are only one percent in January. Low chances that some have a hard time believing after what happened nearly five years ago. "I feel like every year something happens," Hidalgo said. "I really hope they prove me wrong." Experts said here's how data centers could impact power this winter. Normally, they said the most power is used in the morning, when you wake up. However, these facilities run all the time, which could change peak periods and impact power in the future. ABC13 reached out to ERCOT to ask about winter preparedness and the impact of data centers, but we didn't receive a response. abc13.com/post/new-r eport-shows-data-cen ters-could-strain-te xas-grid-winter
er year for cooling purposes, equivalent to the annual water usage of approximately 1,000 households. 👉 Larger data centers can each "drink" up to 5 million gallons per day, or about 1.8 billion annually, usage equivalent to a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people. 👉 Together, the nation's 5,426 data centers consume billions of gallons of water annually. 👉 One report estimated that U.S. data centers consume 449 million gallons of water per day and 163.7 billion gallons annually (as of 2021). 👉 A 2016 report found that fewer than one-third of data center operators track water consumption. Water consumption is expected to continue increasing as data centers grow in number, size, and complexity. ........... ERCOT weighs how growing data center industry could impact Texas power grid. ERCOT leaders are reviewing how the rapid growth of data centers could affect grid reliability and power use across Texas. December 9, 2025 HOUSTON - ERCOT is speaking up about the growth in data centers across the state. They said they're seeing applications for the large load centers come in at record rates. These large load centers could be for data or crypto miners. All applications must go through special processes before being connected. This is to ensure they don't de-stabilize the grid because of how much energy they require. ERCOT said they received 225 applications for new large load interconnection requests in 2025 alone and the vast majority are for data centers. ERCOT officials said this totals 233 gigawatts, which is an almost 300 percent 👆increase from 2024. "We have outgrown the process that was established for reviewing these large loads. It was originally set up for, we were thinking about 40 to 50 loads back in the 2022 time frame," ERCOT Vice President of System Planning and Weatherization Kristi Hobbs said. Most of the LLC requests need at least one gigawatt of energy per site. For context, a gigawatt could power 100,000,000 LED light bulbs. "The amount of loads and how we study them, we can no longer be looking at them individually because we have to look at their impact to each other as well," Hobbs said. As for how these centers could impact the grid, especially as winter rolls around, ERCOT officials said right now they see a lower chance of going into emergency operations or rolling blackouts. 👈 Yeah right......... 🙄🙄🙄 www.khou.com/article /news/local/texas/er cot-texas-data-cente rs-power-grid-i ....... Another article: HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A new report shows a growing industry in Texas could put a strain on the state's power grid this winter. Winter power problems have been on Houston resident, Dolores Hidalgo's mind ever since the winter storm in 2021. In February 2021, an University of Houston report shows more than two-thirds of all Texans lost power for nearly three days during a winter storm. "I think about it every year," Hidalgo said. "I get worried that we're going to lose power and it's going to be for weeks, and we're going to be cold." Five years later, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation has a new assessment on how prepared the state's grid, ERCOT, is this winter. The report shows ERCOT could be strained this winter due to data centers. They're facilities that house IT infrastructure systems. "These are very, very large loads," Energy Ogre COO, David Kinchen, explained. "We're not talking like this is a large warehouse of load where a normal warehouse is mostly empty. We're talking like these are refinery-type loads." An industry that's growing rapidly. Texas Comptroller figures show that before the winter storm five years ago, there were 13 registered data centers. Right now, there are nearly 100. An increase, the new report said, that could impact ERCOT. While more data centers are here, Kinchen said right now the state can mainly handle the demand because it has added more ways to create power. However, he said there's concern that'll change. "During our peak last year, we were around 80-85 megawatts of peak load," Kinchen said. "They're talking about interconnecting another 100 megawatts of datacenters." For now, ERCOT data shows the chances of outages are only one percent in January. Low chances that some have a hard time believing after what happened nearly five years ago. "I feel like every year something happens," Hidalgo said. "I really hope they prove me wrong." Experts said here's how data centers could impact power this winter. Normally, they said the most power is used in the morning, when you wake up. However, these facilities run all the time, which could change peak periods and impact power in the future. ABC13 reached out to ERCOT to ask about winter preparedness and the impact of data centers, but we didn't receive a response. abc13.com/post/new-r eport-shows-data-cen ters-could-strain-te xas-grid-winterStormChaser : I'm just going to give you a 👍 since the emoji that encapsulates the feelings I have about this doesn't exist. I will try a couple of takes. First, I look forward to seeing how this will be massively mismanaged and executed in the years to come. Now the second, we are so screwed.
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