Data centers are driving a rapid increase in the number and capacity of large load interconnection requests in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas region, according to a December report from the grid operator.
The state is exploring a slate of resources — including transmission, solar, storage and gas generation — to meet the growing demand.
Grid planners in Texas are assessing more than 233 GW of large load interconnection requests, with more than 70% coming from data centers, an official said at a Dec. 9, 2025, ERCOT board of directors meeting.
The total capacity exploring grid interconnection near the end of 2025 increased almost 300% over the 2024 year-end total, ERCOT Vice President of System Planning and Weatherization Kristi Hobbs said. She presented totals to the board that were slightly updated from those in the report.
“We continue to see, week after week, more interest in connecting to the ERCOT grid,” Hobbs said at the meeting. “We have outgrown the process that was established for reviewing these large loads.”
The Public Utility Commission of Texas, which regulates ERCOT, is working to implement a new state law, known as SB 6, that requires standardized interconnection rules and improvements to load forecasting.
ERCOT rules were developed to consider 40-50 large loads at a time, Hobbs said. The grid operator had received 225 new requests for the year as of Nov. 18, according to the report.
“We can no longer be looking at them individually because we have to look at their impact to each other as well,” Hobbs said. “We recognize the importance of working with the [PUCT] to implement SB 6 to get better information about which of those loads move forward.”
“We don’t expect all of those will materialize, so it’s very important to get those load forecasting and standardization rules in place,” she added.
The PUCT published an SB 6 implementation road map in August and commission staff members are now working to implement it in multiple dockets, according to attorneys at Perkins Coie. In addition to standardizing load forecasting, SB 6 sets requirements around data center load curtailment.
ERCOT is growing generation and transmission resources to meet new demand.
The system planning update that Hobbs presented to the ERCOT board noted it received about 2,000 new generation interconnection requests in 2025, 77% of which were solar and energy storage resources.
The generation interconnection requests totaled 432 GW, including 176 GW of energy storage, 158 GW of solar and 48 GW of gas.
The state is also developing a 765-kV transmission backbone as part of its plan to support the Permian Basin region, where the oil and gas industry, data centers and other sources of load growth are expected to grow.
Oncor Electric Delivery, on Dec. 15, 2025, said it had taken a “crucial step” toward building the high voltage system, filing an application for the Longshore Switch–Drill Hole Switch line. The proposed 765-kV line would run about 180 miles, depending on the final route the PUCT approves.
The utility said it expects a decision from regulators in June and, if approved, the line will be energized by December 2028.
“Texas continues to experience remarkable growth that is ushering in a new era of energy infrastructure needs,” Ellen Buck, Oncor vice president of business and operations services, said in a statement.
