Texas grid operators warn that AI campuses need dispatchable backup, not just wind
ERCOT can host the load. It cannot host the fantasy.
Wind turbines and transmission corridor
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas remains the easiest large U.S. market in which to dream about a data center. It is not the easiest in which to keep one on through an August evening. Grid officials said new large loads will be judged on their backup story, not their press release.
That is pushing campuses toward behind-the-meter gas, storage, and in a few cases nuclear partnerships that would have sounded satirical in 2019.
The companies that treat ERCOT as a cheap power buffet will learn what every industrial user already knows. The buffet has a cover charge, and it is paid in firm capacity.
David Chen
Energy and Infrastructure Correspondent
Covers power markets, nuclear restarts, and the grid constraints around AI campuses.