The board of directors of Texas grid operator Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) voted Tuesday in favor of a new process aimed at cutting wait times for data centers to connect to the state's power lines.
The new approach, known as Batch Zero, will group projects of 75MW or larger into clusters to be studied together rather than on an individual basis, with available transmission capacity granted to those that meet stricter readiness and commitment criteria. The batch process is designed to eliminate the "restudy loop" that has repeatedly delayed projects as new requests enter the queue and force earlier analyses to be redone, leading to years-long interconnection timelines.
The shift marks the most significant change to Texas' large-load interconnection process in decades, as ERCOT tries to keep up with a surge of data-center proposals whose electricity needs can rival those of mid-sized cities. The new process is intended to bring more predictability and cut through a backlog that has grown to more than 200GW of large-load requests, ERCOT previously said.
The favorable vote comes as local opposition to data center development intensifies throughout Texas. Since February, multiple city and county governments have moved to impose new restrictions on data center projects, citing concerns over water use and grid strain.
The proposal now heads to the Public Utility Commission of Texas for consideration at its 18 June open meeting, ERCOT said.
