Latest Posts From Power Grab TX

Explore our recent insights on Texas AI data centers and digital infrastructure.

A glowing circuit-board map of Texas dotted with energy nodes over the Dallas skyline at sunset, with solar panels, battery storage and transmission towers below

Lining Up for the Grid: Where 438 GW of New Texas Power Wants to Plug In

ERCOT's queue now holds 1,758 proposed power projects totaling 438.5 GW across 192 counties. We ranked the top 15, led by Pecos County's 21.4 GW, and broke down where batteries, solar and gas are lining up. Subscribers get the full county-by-county spreadsheet.

A glowing circuit-board outline of Texas over the Dallas skyline at sunset, with data center buildings, power lines and oil pumpjacks below

Fact vs. Fiction: Black Mountain's "Quiet, Low-Impact" Pitch to Parker County

Black Mountain is asking Parker County residents to send a 30-second letter praising a "quiet, low-impact" data center. State records show a 75 MW gas plant permitted to run 24/7 and about 137 tons of emissions a year, plus plans for 138 million gallons of groundwater the letter never mentions.

The 20% Walkaway: Who Pays When a Texas Data Center Never Shows Up

Texas now makes data centers post $50,000 per megawatt to reserve grid capacity, but a project that walks away after getting capacity forfeits just 20%. In a queue of more than 474 GW, that's a speed bump, and the shared transmission planned around phantom load still lands on everyone's bill.

Pipe Dreams: How AI Is Rewiring Texas's Natural Gas Network

"Bring your own power" means gas, and gas means pipelines, compressors and firm contracts. We explain how fuel reaches a data center's turbines, size up Project Star and the Panhandle's Amarillo Expansion, and ask what a Uri-style freeze would do to private power plants.

Annex or Lose It: Why Texas Towns Are Cornered Into Data Center Deals

Texas cities can't zone outside their limits, so Taylor annexed a 664-acre data center and gas plant to get any say at all. Granbury's annexation sparked a recall fight, and Brownsville is pausing applications citywide and in its ETJ. Here's the choice towns face, and what to ask.

Speed of Light: Can Photonics Ease the AI Data Center Power Crunch?

Photonics swaps copper wiring for light inside AI data centers, and co-packaged optics switches promising 3.5x better power efficiency are now shipping — with a key part of the supply chain made in Sherman, Texas. But an efficiency upgrade isn't an off switch for the power crunch.

The Biggest Polluter: Amazon's Pecos County Gas Plant

A TCEQ permit authorizes Amazon's 7.65-gigawatt, off-grid Pecos County gas plant to emit up to 33 million tons of CO2 a year — more than double the country's current largest single polluter, and entirely outside the ERCOT freeze meant to rein in the data center boom.

The Nuclear Bet: Texas Wagers on Unproven Reactors

Six small nuclear reactor projects are now racing to power Texas AI data centers, from micro-reactors near Abilene to a 1.5-gigawatt "gas-to-nuclear" campus at the Port of Victoria. None have proven the technology can be built on time, on budget, or with a real answer for the waste.

In the Dark by Design: What AI Data Centers Won't Disclose

You cannot manage what companies do not disclose. An editorial look at how 341 Texas data centers, a 17% response rate on a legally required water survey, and a payday-lending statute now shielding commercial water use from public records are leaving regulators — and the public — in the dark.

How AI Data Centers Are Transforming Texas

How AI Data Centers are transforming Texas communities across the state, reshaping local economies, environmental policy, and the reliability of the Texas power grid. As these facilities continue to expand, Texans deserve a clear understanding of all the benefits, all the risks, and long-term implications.

Billion-Dollar Boom: Texas AI Data Centers in 2026

Texas is rapidly becoming one of the most important locations in the United States for AI-focused data centers. With abundant land, competitive power markets, and a business-friendly environment, the state is attracting hyperscalers, cloud providers, and enterprise AI operators.

Why AI Data Centers Are Exploding in Texas

Texas AI data centers are expanding at a historic pace in 2026, making the state the epicenter of America's AI infrastructure boom. Over the past three years, the state has seen a surge of new data centers especially the high-density, high-power facilities needed to train and run AI models.