Project Aquila
Project Aquila is RCM Hill LLC's planned 1,235 MW data-centre campus spanning 800-plus acres in Hill County, Texas, subject to the county's 12 May 2026 moratorium.
Last refreshed: 2 June 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Will Hill County's moratorium kill Project Aquila before its July ERCOT deadline?
Timeline for Project Aquila
Named 1,235 MW data-centre campus at centre of the suit
Data Centres: Boom and Backlash: Texas developer sues county over pause- What is Project Aquila in Texas?
- Project Aquila is a 1,235 MW data-centre campus planned by RCM Hill LLC on 800-plus acres in Hill County, Texas. It is the subject of a county moratorium and a subsequent $100 million lawsuit by the developer, who faces a 24 July 2026 ERCOT deposit deadline to retain its grid connection slot.Source: KWTX
- Where is Project Aquila located in Texas?
- Project Aquila is sited in Hill County, Texas, a rural county whose seat is Hillsboro, roughly 70 miles south of Dallas. The campus would span more than 800 acres.Source: event
- Why did Hill County block Project Aquila?
- Hill County commissioners voted 3-2 on 12 May 2026 to impose a moratorium on Project Aquila. Commissioners did not give a single official reason on the record. The county's own judge called the measure illegal and the county attorney warned they lacked authority; the vote passed regardless, reflecting local opposition to the campus.Source: KXXV
- What happens to Project Aquila if the moratorium is not lifted by July 2026?
- RCM Hill LLC faces a $61.75 million ERCOT deposit deadline on 24 July 2026. If the moratorium is still in place and the developer cannot break ground, it risks losing its interconnection queue position, which took over 16 months to secure and cannot easily be replaced given ERCOT's 410 GW backlog.Source: KWTX
Background
Project Aquila is a planned data-centre campus in Hill County, Texas, developed by RCM Hill LLC, designed to deliver 1,235 MW of capacity across 800-plus acres. Its developer signed four landowner contracts worth more than $80 million over 16 months and secured an ERCOT large-load interconnection position, with a $61.75 million deposit due by 24 July 2026 to hold the grid slot.
On 12 May 2026 the Hill County commissioners court voted 3-2 to impose a moratorium on the project, despite County Judge Shane Brassell calling the measure "illegal" and county attorney David Holmes warning that commissioners lacked the authority. RCM Hill LLC responded on 28 May by filing a $100 million lawsuit alleging regulatory taking under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments and the Texas Constitution. The site retains agricultural use, which complicates a total-taking argument, but the combination of signed contracts, an imminent deposit deadline, and the county attorney's own on-record admission of authority limits represents unusually strong grounds under Penn Central's investment-backed-expectations factor.
Project Aquila sits within ERCOT's already-strained 410 GW large-load queue, in which data centres account for roughly 87 per cent of requests. Its 24 July deposit deadline is a direct product of ERCOT's queue-reform rules designed to flush speculative applicants: if the moratorium runs past that date, RCM Hill loses the interconnection position it spent over a year securing, regardless of whether it ultimately wins in court.
