Texas data center queue exploded from 63 GW to 474 GW, prompting a pause on approvals
a16z · x · 2026-10-07
Texas' grid operator saw its large-customer interconnection queue balloon from 63 GW at the end of 2024 to 474 GW by June—more than five times record peak demand, about 90% of it data centers—and has now hit pause.
- Developers routinely spam requests across multiple sites, many speculative with no customer, so planners can't tell real projects from vaporware and don't want ratepayers funding upgrades that never materialize.
- Fully connecting a large data center can take 5–10 years, and idle GPUs cost far more than the electricity to run them, making speed the top priority.
- Developers are increasingly planning on-site "power islands." Some labs and hyperscalers, forced to choose, pick speed over reliability—though full reliability for these islands is very hard.
- Every known site still intends to connect to the grid eventually.
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