Texas Data Center Intel

Recent Texas data center news

• Jun 30, 2026

  Emergence Water and Nimbus: Water Joins Power as AI Infrastructure's Next Critical Constraint

  Emergence Water and Nimbus announced a partnership and discussed their combined approach to reduce municipal water dependence for AI data centers on a Data Center Frontier podcast episode published June 30, 2026.

  • Partnership and technical details: Emergence Water is pairing modular containerized atmospheric water generation (AWG) units (roughly 1,200 gallons per day per unit; ~410,000 gallons annually estimated for Wichita Falls, TX) with Nimbus’ highly water-efficient adiabatic cooling (Nimbus operates primarily in dry mode and uses water only during high ambient temperatures). The firms claim the adiabatic approach can reduce electrical consumption by 50%–60% versus purely dry cooling and the pairing aims to remove dependence on municipal supply for both construction and operations.
  • Context, regulatory and planning implications: The discussion was delivered as a podcast interview (Data Center Frontier Show, June 30, 2026) and emphasized long-term planning horizons (10–15 years) for water availability, noted a regulatory example (Southern Nevada prohibition on evaporative cooling), and highlighted construction-phase water demand (example: ~1 million gallons per data hall for filling/flushing liquid cooling loops at a Texas AI campus).
• Jun 30, 2026

  Why AI Data Centers Make Existing Power Plants More Valuable

  Deloitte reports that utilities and infrastructure investors are increasingly buying operating power plants rather than waiting for new capacity to be built, driven by AI-fueled data center demand and long delays to bring new generation and grid upgrades online.

  • Main announcement: Deloitte characterizes a market shift toward “deliverable capacity” — acquiring operating generation with established interconnections and fast time-to-power; in 2025 the US power and utilities sector announced nearly $142 billion in transactions, with 62 GW of gas-fired generation changing hands (about $89 billion across 23 gas-sector deals), reflecting a preference for assets that can be energized sooner.
  • Background and details: The report and market commentary cite permitting delays, interconnection backlogs, supply-chain constraints, and capital cost increases (~40% for gas plants 2015–2025) as drivers of a “buy-to-build” premium; activity clustered in markets including PJM and ERCOT, though deal flow slowed later in 2025 as high-quality assets were absorbed.
• Jun 30, 2026

  The 250-year history of U.S. energy consumption

  The U.S. Energy Information Administration published an explainer on the 250-year history of U.S. energy consumption.

  • The article summarizes how U.S. energy use shifted from wood in the 18th and 19th centuries to petroleum, natural gas, coal, nuclear, hydropower, wind, solar, and biofuels by 2025.
  • It notes that in 2025 U.S. total energy use was 96 quads, up 2% from 2024, and that fossil fuels still accounted for 82% of energy consumed.
  • The piece also states that electricity demand is expected to grow faster than any time since 2000 through the end of 2027, mostly because of data centers; it also references EV electricity consumption of 24 billion kWh in 2025.
• Jun 30, 2026

  Stargate Update: AI’s Biggest Data Center Buildout Meets Reality

  OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle, and MGX announced the Stargate initiative in January 2025; this article reports on its evolution, project deployments, financing friction, and operational lessons.

  • Main announcement and current actions: The Stargate consortium originally pledged up to $500 billion and up to 10 GW of compute capacity; since then concrete projects have emerged including Vantage Data Centers breaking ground on the Lighthouse campus (Port Washington, WI) in December 2025 — a $15 billion project planned to deliver four data centers totaling 902 MW IT capacity across 674 acres — and the Abilene, Texas mega-campus (≈1,100 acres) reaching energization and early deployment while reporting weather-related outages and later reports (March 2026) of scaled-back expansion tied to financing and demand assumptions.

  • Background, partners and implementation details: The Stargate model emphasizes behind-the-meter generation, co-located energy infrastructure, and phased GPU deployment; governance and financing tensions have surfaced (reported disagreements among OpenAI, Oracle, partners and revised Texas plans), Microsoft has engaged through a partnership with Crusoe to add buildings at Abilene (including reported ~900 MW related work), and Texas policy headwinds (tax incentive and permitting changes, scrutiny over water/grid impacts) are shaping future approvals and timelines.

• Jun 29, 2026

  AI’s Duplicate Demand Problem Drives Grids to Commitment-First Planning

  FERC has initiated a pending rulemaking (RM26-4-000) exploring “commitment-first” planning for large loads to prevent inflated demand forecasts driven by speculative data center interconnection requests.

  • Main announcement/action: Google has proposed a Capacity Commitment Framework that would require meaningful commercial commitments (examples: long-term service agreements, minimum demand charges, upfront collateral, withdrawal penalties) before large-load requests influence long-term transmission planning; major cloud/AI firms (Amazon, Microsoft, OpenAI) support maturity/commitment-based approaches and coordinated generation-load studies.
  • Background and details: Regional reforms already in practice include ERCOT’s Batch Zero credibility test, SPP’s HILLGA framework, and PJM large-load proceedings; alternative proposals include NRG Energy’s open seasons for transmission capacity and state-level jurisdictional challenges (e.g., North Carolina urging preservation of the Federal Power Act’s jurisdictional line; Maryland regulators contesting PJM cost-allocation tied to AI-driven load growth).
• Jun 26, 2026

  Galaxy Digital eyes second Texas data center site, buys land outside Waco

  Galaxy Digital has announced an agreement to acquire land in McGregor, Texas (Project Merlin) to develop a new data center campus.

  • Main announcement: Galaxy Digital aims to acquire 500 acres in McGregor’s industrial park (Project Merlin) and invest some $400 million to develop up to eight buildings, with the site to use closed-loop cooling systems to reduce water usage and Galaxy covering infrastructure upgrade costs.
  • Background and other details: The move would be Galaxy’s second Texas campus after its 160-acre Helios campus (acquired from Argo Blockchain for approximately $65 million in late 2022); Helios has an 800MW approved capacity (fully leased to CoreWeave) and a lease projected to generate average annual revenue of more than $1 billion over a 15-year term.
• Jun 26, 2026

  How data centers can better manage energy use

  MIT researchers at MIT Sloan and CEEPR published a study in iScience titled “Flexible Data Centers Reduce Power System Costs But Can Increase Emissions.”

  • Main finding: The study models U.S. grid scenarios and finds that allowing data centers to shift load off peak hours can reduce power-system costs by up to 5% in Texas, 4% in the Mid-Atlantic, and 2% in the Western Interconnect; achieving these savings requires moving >20% (sometimes ~50%) of consumption to non-peak hours and depends on how many hours load can be shifted.
  • Background and details: The paper reports modeled CO2 impacts under projected data-center growth to 2030 (relative to no growth): +58% (Texas), +20% (Mid-Atlantic), +24% (Western U.S.); regionally, a flexible regime can reduce emissions in Texas (up to 40% fewer CO2 in the modeled scenario) but increase emissions in the Mid-Atlantic (system-wide +3%) by enabling coal plants to stay online. The authors discuss policy levers such as “connect and manage” (quicker grid hookups in exchange for time-of-use flexibility).
• Jun 26, 2026

  ASHRAE to tackle data centers, thermal systems at annual conference

  The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) announced its 2026 annual conference will be held June 27-July 5 in Austin, Texas.

  • Main announcement: ASHRAE’s 2026 Annual Conference (June 27-July 5, Austin, Texas) will feature technical sessions and educational seminars, with the ASHRAE Learning Institute offering continuing education courses for engineers to earn license credits; highlighted session topics include indoor air quality vs energy, HVAC design for data centers, thermal energy networks, variable refrigerant flow, dedicated outdoor air systems (DOAS), commissioning net-zero-ready schools, and EV carports with battery storage.
  • Additional details:Bill McQuade (ASHRAE President) issued a statement emphasizing learning and networking; incoming president Sarah Maston will introduce ASHRAE’s new theme: “Changing the Game: Retrofitting for Resilience.”
• Jun 25, 2026

  ICF Warns Grid Deliverability May Limit AI-Era Power Growth

  ICF has released a report projecting significant electricity demand growth and warning that transmission networks may be unable to deliver power to emerging load centers.

  • Demand projections: ICF projects 21% electricity demand growth by 2030 and 39% by 2035 (from 2026 levels), with peak demand up 25% by 2035; it estimates roughly 26 GW of generating capacity above minimum reliability today (≈3% of installed capacity) which could shrink to ~20 GW by 2030, and notes the cushion in PJM and ERCOT has largely disappeared. ICF also projects 445 GW of new generation additions through 2030 (solar, storage, wind, natural gas).
  • Background and near-term constraints: Investor-owned utilities are expected to spend roughly $178 billion on transmission projects between 2025 and 2028, and the Department of Energy backs plans for ~7,500 miles of new transmission by 2030, but the report warns capital spending alone will not deliver timely relief given supply chain, siting, permitting, and labor challenges; recommended near-term measures include batteries, demand flexibility, grid-enhancing technologies, phased energization, and flexible interconnection. Regions highlighted include Texas, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Southeast, Great Plains, and much of the West, and data center developers are widening site searches and negotiating energization schedules earlier.
• Jun 25, 2026

  Meta, Microsoft lead $850 billion boom in data center leases

  Bloomberg analysis reports Meta Platforms and Microsoft committed tens of billions of dollars in additional future data-center leases, pushing total future lease commitments among major cloud computing companies above $850 billion.

  • Main announcement:Meta Platforms added $79 billion in new commitments (a 76% increase over the prior period) bringing its total to $182.9 billion as of March 31; Microsoft added more than $41 billion in commitments, taking its total to $196.6 billion. Amazon added $10 billion, Oracle’s future-dated leases slightly declined, and CoreWeave Inc. remained largely flat. These additions are part of an overall pool of more than $850 billion in future lease commitments reported by Bloomberg.
  • Context and details: Future lease costs won’t appear on balance sheets until payments begin; leases are generally tied to data centers but can include offices or warehouses and often contain escape clauses. The commitments are expected to be paid out over the next two decades. Microsoft had paused leasing through much of 2025 and recently announced a large server farm project in west Texas in partnership with Chevron Corp.