ERCOT halted its Batch Zero interconnection overhaul after Abbott ordered an audit of data-center projects, delaying a process meant to sort nearly 2,000 grid-connection requests.
Those requests total 466,497 megawatts of demand—more than five times ERCOT’s peak record—and 90% are data centers, leaving planners and industrial users unsure when power will be available.
The setback coincides with a fresh blow to transmission expansion: SOAH recommended rejecting part of a West Texas 765-kV line, while 30 state representatives urged regulators to deny pending applications.
ERCOT and industry groups warn delays could worsen West Texas congestion, lift power prices and raise blackout risk in the Permian by next summer, even as rural opposition intensifies before November elections.