Overview
- ERCOT’s board approved two rule packages that create a batch-based process to review big electricity requests and impose ride-through reliability requirements for data centers and crypto miners.
- The operator reported roughly 450 gigawatts of requests for new large loads and said about 100 gigawatts of projects are likely to meet the criteria for the initial ‘Batch Zero’ allocation.
- Projects left out of Batch Zero may wait years for additional transmission capacity, creating a high-stakes scramble for developers to meet new fees, site-control milestones and readiness tests.
- ERCOT warned that hotter weather plus growing data-center and mining demand could push summer peak needs above 92 GW, and the PUC must sign off before the rules take effect.
- Industry groups say meeting ride-through rules could cost billions and take years to implement, while some states are pursuing moratoria or tighter siting rules over concerns about power, water use and local impacts.