ERCOT
Texas grid operator; 438 GW data-centre queue as Batch Zero interconnection studies get underway.
ERCOT's large-load interconnection queue reached 438 GW on 18 June 2026, about 90% of it data centres, nearly five times the state's 85 GW peak demand, as the Texas Public Utility Commission approved the grid operator's first formal Batch Zero study process.
Last refreshed: 4 August 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Batch Zero is live at 438 GW queued: is Texas managing growth or watching it?
Timeline for ERCOT
Suspended its Batch Zero classification and will seek a PUCT good-cause exception
Data Centres: Boom and Backlash: ERCOT freezes its 205 GW sorting jobReceived Abbott's directive to audit data-centre projects
Data Centres: Boom and Backlash: Abbott orders a full data centre auditMentioned in: German gas plants back in profit
European Energy MarketsClosed Batch Zero interconnection submissions
Data Centres: Boom and Backlash: ERCOT closes its Batch Zero queue windowMentioned in: Alphabet lifts 2026 capex to $205bn
Data Centres: Boom and BacklashBackground
ERCOT (the Electric Reliability Council of Texas) operates the electric grid for approximately 90% of Texas, the largest electricity market of any US state. Established in 1970 and operating independently since 1996, it is unusual among US grid operators in being electrically isolated, with limited interconnection capacity to neighbouring regions, so its demand-supply balance is a localised rather than a national problem.
The organisation is the canonical example of AI-driven grid stress in the United States. Its large-load interconnection queue, standing at 438 GW as of 18 June 2026 with roughly 90% attributable to data centres, is close to five times current peak demand of about 85 GW . FERC reported in May 2026 that ERCOT alone had added approximately 26 GW of new summer generating capacity since 2025, the largest single-grid contribution nationally, yet that build has not cleared the queue backlog .
Texas's HB 1500 (2024) requires large-load disclosure, and the state's Public Utility Commission approved ERCOT's first formal Batch Zero interconnection study process on 18 June 2026, with a final transmission plan not due until autumn 2027.
Texas queue nearly doubles again
ERCOT's large-load queue swelled to 438 GW on 18 June 2026, roughly 90% of it data centres, after standing at 410 GW only weeks earlier in April . The queue is now nearly five times the grid's current 85 GW peak demand. Texas's Public Utility Commission responded by approving ERCOT's first formal Batch Zero interconnection study process the same day, with transmission providers required to file load information forms by 24 July.
The growth outpaces the physical constraint behind it: large power transformers take up to four years to deliver, so most of the queued load cannot be powered before 2028 even if fully approved . Batch Zero's final transmission plan is not due until autumn 2027, with a second application batch opening only in summer 2027, leaving operators needing power sooner to build their own gas generation instead.
FERC delays a binding load standard
FERC set a 20 July 2026 Deadline for its six regional grid operators, ERCOT among them, to file generation-adequacy reports under docket RM26-4-000 . The filing is the evidence-gathering step in a slower rulemaking process FERC chose in June over a binding rule, pushing any real large-load connection standard to 2027 at the earliest.
FERC had already committed in April to rule by June 2026 on how loads above 20 MW connect to the interstate grid, covering study bypass, behind-the-meter treatment, and who pays for upgrades . For ERCOT, the outcome matters directly: a favourable bypass ruling could ease pressure on its own 438 GW queue, while a slow federal timeline leaves the state process, Batch Zero, as the only near-term lever.