McKinsey

McKinsey & Company is contracted by ERCOT to deliver a framework for short- and mid-term solutions to the Texas grid operator's surging large-load queue, which passed 225 GW in April 2026, with more than 70 per cent from data centres. The March 2026 Large Load Working Group focused on batch-study implementation and flexible interconnection models — the procedural changes most likely to come out of McKinsey's work. West Texas operators wanting to repurpose 9.1 GW of existing crypto-mining infrastructure for AI compute are applying particular pressure to that process.

McKinsey & Company was founded in 1926 in Chicago and is the world's largest management consulting firm, advising governments, utilities, and technology companies across energy, infrastructure, and digital transformation. Its energy and materials practice has published extensively on power-sector capacity additions and AI-driven demand growth, including forecasts cited in FERC and state regulatory proceedings.

McKinsey's involvement at ERCOT is notable because the Texas grid's governance structure means that FERC's upcoming RM26-4-000 order will not apply there: ERCOT is the primary routing point for operators seeking to escape federal jurisdiction. A McKinsey-designed queue framework that is too restrictive could push operators back toward FERC-regulated grids; too permissive and ERCOT risks reliability. The firm's work is therefore one of the two key near-term variables shaping US data-centre siting, alongside FERC's June order.