Texas slams on the brakes for 1,800 data centers, power grid requirements are five times higher than peak record demand — 474 gigawatts of power requests are now subject to new moratorium

[u/starbetrayer]

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/data-centers/texas-slams-on-the-breaks-for-1-800-data-centers-power-grid-requirements-are-five-times-higher-than-peak-record-demand-474-gigawatts-of-power-requests-are-now-subject-to-new-moratorium#xenforo-comments-3898779

[u/SmoothConfection1115]

474 GW of power?!?

Holy freaking crap, did NOBODY do ANY PLANNING for the logistical side of these things?!

My local power provider generates 13-16 GW for the area, across over 3 dozen sources (plants, green energy, etc.,)

474 GW is insane.

New York City has a baseline 5.5-6GW demand.

There is no possible scenario where the power grid is equipped to handle this. Even if you allow out of state providers into the grid, this amount of power is insane.

I always thought public opinion would be the tipping point for data centers. But it seems the realities of the power grid is going to be the brick wall of reality they crash into.

[u/Chaseism → u/SmoothConfection1115]

This is what happens when politicians don't do their jobs. Companies do whatever they can get away with.

[u/devsfan1830 → u/Chaseism]

We also need more young enough to know wtf it is they are voting on. Most I;'m certain have no idea what AI is or what it really entails, but money and power is easy to understand.

[u/Emotional_Fix6230 → u/devsfan1830]

Young enough to know what they're voting on? In my state, the crowds gathered to oppose these data centers are by a vast majority white haired people.

[u/Coattail-Rider → u/Emotional_Fix6230]

Because those people didn’t think the people they voted for (mostly Republicans) would sell them out when Republicans ALWAYS sell out their constituents. Now that Republicans realize they can sell out the rural communities, the white hairs are going nuts.

[u/ThunderAndWind → u/Emotional_Fix6230]

Yes, older people are more likely to have the financial freedom and time to attend council meetings and protests.

[u/Merijeek2 → u/Chaseism]

LOL. In Texas the job of a politician is to complain about Democrats, talk about Jesus as often as possible, and let business do whatever they want whenever they want.

[u/AnySwimming6364 → u/Merijeek2]

You forgot receiving kickbacks from said business to make sure their projects are greenlit and public dissent aggressively quashed.

[u/MidwestFescue82 → u/Merijeek2]

Don't forget, they also make illegal what 70% of Texans voted to legalize so they can send citizens to privately owned prisons. Buy weed legally on Friday, go to a Texas prison for 8 years on Monday.

[u/Lost-Platypus8271 → u/Merijeek2]

You forgot chase down women who’ve had an abortion out of state like runaway slaves

[u/Pollia → u/Chaseism]

I guarantee you a good chunk of those politicians who approved these are either unpaid or barely paid.

Calling it a job for them is objectively wrong.

Texas state representatives, the people who make decisions for the whole state, get paid 600 dollars a month. 600. Dollars. A. Month.

Thats less than half of minimum wage.

You think some county commissioner that approved this project gets paid even that amount? Fuck no

This is what happens when you don't pay your politicians enough so that people who care can afford to make it their job. Instead you have independently wealthy dickheads so far removed from reality that shit like this means nothing to them.

[u/Sharin_the_Groove → u/SmoothConfection1115]

Lol have you ever talked with one of your local municipal or county reps? These people know only slightly more about public administration than you do. A shitload of them, especially in the rural communities, do it purely out of public service because no one else wanted to step up. So to answer your question, no, noone did any planning. They're all just moving forward until someone tells them to stop.

[u/keeper_of_the_donkey → u/Sharin_the_Groove]

I really feel like a lot of these projects are just being planned because they can get the land for cheap, there's a lot of it in texas, and they're really hoping that Texas will just step up and accommodate them with power. My small Lake community was going to get a gigascale facility, that our local Representatives discovered that we don't even have anywhere near the electrical capacity to run it.

[u/CatNamedRIchard2 → u/keeper_of_the_donkey]

Google and Microsoft are just building their own power production out in Pecos county area. At least the big players aren't just leaching off the grind like the smaller players are doing. Not that the big players are any better at the end of the day or doing anything to help Texans.

[u/mtlballer101 → u/CatNamedRIchard2]

The big players are doing this now because they've been leeching off the grid this whole time, and either they saw this coming or building their own is cheaper(probably a bit of both).

[u/AntoineEx → u/mtlballer101]

In Texas they are using natural gas powered turbines…… Natural gas is a huge part of Texas electric generation and heating during the winter. This demand could raise prices for all consumers it’s just not directly pulling electricity from the grid.

[u/indywest2 → u/AntoineEx]

Exactly just wait this winter natural gas heating bills will double. ☹️

[u/eawilweawil → u/indywest2]

Then use AI to generate video of burning fireplace to warm yourself up!

[u/jmblumenshine → u/mtlballer101]

Zombie Ken Lay just popped Wood from beneath the grave.

His dream was commercial power being deregulated and out of the states hands.

THIS IS WHAT GOOGLE AND MICROSOFT WILL START PUSHING FOR.

They will ask for deregulation to let them build bigger plants and sell the excess to the consumer. They will under cut all public utility law to accomplish this.

We should be very dubious of monoliths like Google and Microsoft owning larger power plants able to generate enough power to support entire segments of the country.

[u/jlt6666 → u/CatNamedRIchard2]

And they are ignoring emissions regulations

[u/Renimar → u/jlt6666]

I'm sure the EPA will get right on that. Aaaaannnny day now.

[u/Monster_Voice → u/jlt6666]

Don't worry... both big ass gas turbines and whatever kind of giant super floppy disks they're using in those places do not enjoy the constant vibrations of the earth.

[u/Draco-REX → u/CatNamedRIchard2]

DAMN! This is why I've suddenly been seeing pro-nuclear posts out of the blue! These AI companies want to start having on-site nuclear reactors and they're paying astroturfers to try and change public opinion about nuclear energy.

EDIT: For the record, I support Nuclear Energy. But I do not support thousands of mini nuke plants all over the country and next door to residential areas, run by cost-cutting corporations that value quarterly statements over human lives. I'll only accept it if a law is passed stating that in the event of a failure the entire c-suite of the company has to walk through the plant in their underwear before any one else goes in to assess damage.

[u/Lokon19 → u/Draco-REX]

There is nothing inherently wrong with nuclear and it’s better than coal and gas

[u/RoboRougar0u → u/Draco-REX]

tbf Nuclear is the best option as long as it's done correctly.

[u/asyork → u/Sharin_the_Groove]

I've worked quite a bit with recorders, clerks, and treasurers. They almost always take their jobs very seriously and try to learn as much as they can. If they keep getting elected, they are eventually experts at it. They do not always know what is going on before or after something passes their desk though, and their hands are often tied regarding applying logic to a problem that will arise after it leaves their desk, even if it's very clear that it will be a problem. Often the best they can do is inform either the next person that will be dealing with it or someone higher up in the county.

[u/LostWoodsInTheField → u/asyork]

Yeah i've found a lot of the 'hidden' elected officials try their best, and are willing to learn how to do the jobs and expand their knowledge.

it's the supervisors, council members, county commissioners that are ignorant and prefer to stay that way. Not all of them of course, but enough to cause a lot of issues.

This is in a rural area, where this conversation matters since it's where everything is being developed now. The general public doesn't understand they need to elect higher quality people, and it's hard to convince higher quality people to run.

[u/moth_specialist → u/Sharin_the_Groove]

  purely out of public service because no one else wanted to step up

I wish more people knew this. I worked with a group of rural mayors for a few years. Salary of like $15k/year, and they’d be completely out of their element on a topic like this. They'd often joke that they’d leave office if literally anyone else [who’s not a complete idiot] would run.

[u/PunkPirate56364 → u/moth_specialist]

This is so fucking true. In our rural community, there is basically no competition for the role. There is always just one person running and is usually a major for just one term.

There is either a new candidate and incumbent major doesn't run.

Or incumbent major asks around to find a new candidate.

[u/Money4Nothing2000 → u/Sharin_the_Groove]

I wish I could upvote this a million times. I'm an engineer, so I know quite a bit about science and tech. I've been to city council meetings, listened to politicians, representatives, and I even read lots of legislation because I do work in defense subcontracting. This goes for big times senators all the way down to tiny municipal councilmen.

Our representatives don't know shit about shit. They might be decent lawyers, but that's about it. I doubt most of them could find their ass with both hands. They won't even know the difference between kilowatts and kilowatt-hours, much less resistance heating or transmission line reactance. I doubt any of them know what a PCV valve on a car is for.

[u/Fadedcamo → u/SmoothConfection1115]

They'll just have everyone blame EV cars when they deal with brownouts and blackout and triple the rate they're used to.

[u/Capable_Wait09 → u/Fadedcamo]

If liberal millennials didn’t consume so much power making avocado toast and orange mocha Frappuccinos then maybe they could own their homes and data centers by now too. And if they’d let us keep trans girls off of ymca soccer teams then maybe the power grid would’ve 5xed its maximum capacity by now. Think about it

[u/technohippie → u/Capable_Wait09]

The power grid just needs to pull itself up by the bootstraps.

[u/howtofwoosmom → u/technohippie]

maybe if electricians learned python it would be better.

[u/soulseaker → u/howtofwoosmom]

Theres a snake in my data center.

[u/GrilledCheeseMnky → u/soulseaker]

There are a lot of snakes in the white house

[u/SkunkMonkey → u/howtofwoosmom]

They need pylons, not pythons.

[u/SeveralPrinciple5 → u/Capable_Wait09]

Hey, back off! You'll have to pry my 2,000Kw avocado toast and orange mocha all-in-one Frappuccino machine out of my cold, dead hands. But you won't be able to, because I'll be protected by my posse of YMCA soccer team trans girls and you don't wanna tangle with them, NO WAY! Think about it

[u/Unlikely-Theme-9681 → u/SeveralPrinciple5]

just hide it in the girls' bathroom.

...or is it the boys' bathroom? Which one aren't we allowed to use this week?

[u/LuvKrahft → u/Unlikely-Theme-9681]

Wont someone think of the genitelia

[u/AlcibiadesTheCat → u/Unlikely-Theme-9681]

As a post-op trans woman, I have absolutely no problem going into the men's room and pissing all over the floor in front of the urinal.

[u/SeveralPrinciple5 → u/AlcibiadesTheCat]

As Ghandi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world."

[u/silvertealio → u/Unlikely-Theme-9681]

If you're trans, they want you to just hold it.

Correction...they'd just rather we not exist anywhere at all.

[u/NotAllOwled → u/Capable_Wait09]

I'm here ready to sell my organic compute on fair terms to anyone who can offer me a decent human server rack slot and simulated reality feed for while I'm in there. You all think about that and serious offers can contact me when you're ready to talk business.

[u/TJ_Will → u/NotAllOwled]

Welcome to the desert of the real.

[u/kris10leigh14 → u/Capable_Wait09]

Wait. There’s orange mocha fraps?

[u/Valdrax → u/kris10leigh14]

Back in 2001, as made famous by Zoolander, and sorta brought back 25 years later recently with the orange cream line of drinks.

[u/SpaceWaffels → u/Fadedcamo]

It wasn't that long ago they said the grid wasn't ready for EVs. No problem for the data centers today though.

[u/MairusuPawa → u/SpaceWaffels]

A reminder from years ago re: Texas and power-hungry datacenters :

• https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/06/texas-paid-bitcoin-miner-riot-31point7-million-to-shut-down-in-august.html

A reminder about the Governor of Texas:

• https://www.dallasnews.com/business/banking/2021/06/10/cryptocurrency-wins-votes-of-confidence-from-gov-abbott-texas-department-of-banking/

who happens to also welcome crypto donations.

Strange times uh.

[u/genericnewlurker → u/Fadedcamo]

It's all the people putting solar panels on their houses! They are destroying the grid by making their own electricity!

• Queue Texas banning solar power and promoting clean coal again

[u/soulseaker → u/genericnewlurker]

The cleanest coal, washed by ducks in the local ponds. Just think of the savings!

[u/atreides78723 → u/soulseaker]

The cleanest coal is washed clean by liberal tears!

[u/noonenotevenhere → u/Fadedcamo]

So, overnight, most thermal power plants (gas, coal, nuclear - anything that boils water to make steam) - are still producing at peak efficiency, because it's not efficient to cool them off and the have to heat them back up. It can take 3 days to fully heat them back up. Oh, and the best 'make steam' power plant is 33% efficient, even nuclear. For every 1GWe, it has to make 3GWt (thermal).

That's why in places with peak metering / adjusted power rates, it's significantly cheaper to use electricity between 9p-6a - they literally are making more than is being consumed and have no way to store it, so they sell it cheaper.

EVs have a time setting in their charge menu. On mine, it's literally under charging / scheduled charging - and I set it to start charging at 9 and finish by 6. Don't even have peak metering at my location yet, but I figure it's the least I can to help prevent issues when it's 98f and humid and the whole city has their AC on full blast.

Anywho. 'power grid can't handle evs' is the lamest excuse ever - only fast charging is even an issue during the day, it's incredibly easy to have home-charging people do their charging at night. Now you're soaking up otherwise possibly wasted energy.

Compare that with an AI data center, which nearly linearly scales consumption with use. It'll be using massive amounts of power when people are awake and need that power for AC, cooking, laundry, life and such - literally at times of high demand already on the grid.

[u/TowardsTheImplosion → u/noonenotevenhere]

You and your facts.

Facts have never mattered. Even EVs helping level base load power plants with overnight charging to the benefit of the rest of the grid doesn't matter.

From the mythical black welfare queen of saint Reagan's rhetoric to the "brown people buying houses on NINJA mortgages and causing the great recession"...To more recently "Kamala doesn't support Palestine so don't bother voting, even though Trump and Kushner literally said they want to level it turn it into a massive resort area"

The propaganda will be shoved down our throats to the benefit of a billionaires club that you ain't in.

That being said, eventually all the propaganda in the world cannot violate the laws of physics. So I'm all for us all doing the right thing and embracing a better future while we wait for the propaganda to implode in the face of physics

[u/RelaxPrime → u/SmoothConfection1115]

474 GW is literally more than the entire US demand.

[u/exscape → u/RelaxPrime]

Holy shit; it seems damn close.

U.S. power consumption reached a record high of approximately 4.195 trillion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2025

4.195e12 kWh / (365.25 days/year * 24 hours/day) = 478.55 GW on average (so presumably higher peak).

Still a completely insane figure for a single state.

[u/cxmmxc → u/exscape]

So what you're saying is, power companies could stay afloat by just serving data centres and dumping all the poor people.

/s but maybe not

[u/kaityl3 → u/exscape]

Yeah, your instincts are spot on because this obviously was never actually going to happen. It sounds insane because it is. There was never any possibility of even a fraction of this total amount actually being constructed and coming online. It's just the aggregate total of every ludicrous project that's been proposed in the state, not what was actually going to be built.

[u/b0w3n → u/RelaxPrime]

This is why they should be required to build 150% of what they need as renewable and required to have large on-site batteries (since it's infrastructure, they don't need lithium based ones (iron/sodium)).

You want 500 jiggwatts? Build your power plants.

[u/SanMartianZ → u/SmoothConfection1115]

GREAT SCOTT!

[u/ilmalocchio → u/SanMartianZ]

You could time travel 391 times with that kind of power

[u/Turbulent-Paramedic2 → u/SanMartianZ]

Out looking for bolts of lightning, huh?😀

[u/Ape_x_Ape → u/SanMartianZ]

Ronald Reagan? THE ACTOR?!?

[u/Wurm42 → u/[deleted]]

Right?? These are Texas Republicans, after all. They only plan far enough ahead to make sure the check clears.

[u/Eshin242 → u/SmoothConfection1115]

It's the 1800 number that blows my mind. That's a massive amount of construction for data centers . 

[u/Kup123 → u/Eshin242]

Need a lot of processing power to watch every American and use AI models to predict their every move.

[u/Bobson-_Dugnutt2 → u/SmoothConfection1115]

Oh they did a lot of planning. Just planning for the opposite of what they should be. Shutting off alternate power sources. Sequestering their power grid from the rest of the country.

[u/Riaayo → u/SmoothConfection1115]

Holy freaking crap, did NOBODY do ANY PLANNING for the logistical side of these things?!

We're too busy asking how we could possible afford to pay for universal healthcare (like every other developed nation on the planet manages to) to spend any time asking oligarchs how things they want are or aren't feasible.

[u/yeahright17 → u/SmoothConfection1115]

The baseline for the entire country of the United States is 500-600 GW. Yeah. 474GW is insane.

[u/Tribe303 → u/SmoothConfection1115]

Too far to buy electricity from Canada, like NYC does, as well. Perhaps ask Mexico if they have any spare electricity under their couch cushions? 🤣 

[u/rotomangler → u/SmoothConfection1115]

Most of these southern politicians will vote yes if you buy them a brisket dinner

[u/Budget-Purple-6519]

This is only because a recent poll showed that his Democratic competitor, Gina Hinojosa, is only one point behind him. That’s a big deal in Texas, so he’s panicking to seem connected to the big issues.

[u/THedman07 → u/Budget-Purple-6519]

Yep. This is exactly it. She really came out of nowhere too.

I really hope that Republican turnout is so bad that we can win the Senate seat and the Governor. That would be so amazing.

[u/Mumosa → u/THedman07]

And Lt. Gov! Hope Goodwin kicks Danny (Goeb) Patrick to the curb with the rest of the trash!

[u/dbzmah → u/Mumosa]

Railroad commissioner as well. Bo French is a literal facist, and tweets about deporting non whites daily.

[u/CassandraTruth → u/Mumosa]

This is the big prize in Texas politics. "Why run for governor when I already hold the strongest office in the state?"

[u/billiebuttcheeks → u/Mumosa]

I hope Dan Patrick trips into a hole and goes headfirst straight into hell

[u/FaolainRanger → u/THedman07]

I'm not gonna lie, I have seen zero information about her, even from her own team. She is being eclipsed by Talarico, mostly because his opponent is struggling to find something to smear him with. But I have seen and heard nothing from Gina's campaign on what her plans are. That is troubling.

We need to replace Abbott. He and his cronies are the reason this state has fallen so, so, so low. I just don't want voters to get complacent and then not turn out to get him out.

[u/Chrono_Pregenesis → u/Budget-Purple-6519]

So the piss baby is pissing himself?

[u/shrimptechsales → u/Chrono_Pregenesis]

Hopefully another tree falls on him too

[u/SirTiffAlot → u/Budget-Purple-6519]

All gas no brakes in 2027 after the election

[u/YoungRichBastard26s → u/SirTiffAlot]

That weed law they just pushed might have sealed his end roll that mf into irrelevancy

[u/EuropaWeGo → u/YoungRichBastard26s]

I was surprised to see that my conservative neighbors are pissed off about the new THC law. I don't follow conservative media all that much, but they seemed to be genuinely annoyed by it and feel like Texas leadership isn't listening to them.

[u/Daimakku1 → u/EuropaWeGo]

and feel like Texas leadership isn't listening to them.

Why would Texas leadership (Republicans) listen to people when they know that the majority of Texans will vote for them anyway? There is no incentive. This is on Texas Republican voters.

[u/alurimperium → u/Daimakku1]

It's on voters in general. Less than half the registered voters bothered to cast a ballot in the last gubernatorial in Texas

[u/rei-emi → u/EuropaWeGo]

southern conservatives have been one of the biggest consumers of thc for decades now, they are just idiots that vote in people that dont align with any of their beliefs other than hate towards minority groups

[u/DarkSpoon → u/rei-emi]

They love to cosplay martyrs and it feeds into that. "I enjoy a smoke as much as anyone, but I gave it up for betterment of the economy" type shit.

[u/EuropaWeGo → u/Budget-Purple-6519]

Don't know if this'll work. The voters who are pissed about data centers are still enraged and now all Abbott has done is piss off his tech overlords.

[u/Wurm42 → u/EuropaWeGo]

Physics also has a say. If there's no plan to add 474 gigawatts of generating capacity to the ERCOT grid, and no plan to upgrade the grid itself to carry all that electricity, then those data centers aren't gonna get turned on.

The electricity has to come from SOMEWHERE.

[u/systemhost → u/Wurm42]

As a Texan, I know the answer. Burning more coal is the goal!

In reality, nuclear should've been heavily invested in over the last few decades but at this point doubling down on solar, wind and energy storage will likely be the smart play.

Even those take quite a while to build up but a whole lot less than the decade or more that a nuclear plant likely requires.

[u/Fallingdamage → u/Budget-Purple-6519]

1800 data centers in a single state. Thats insane.

[u/REpassword → u/Budget-Purple-6519]

“What? Regulations on business? What sort of Communism is this?” - GOP when it suits them.

[u/Daimakku1 → u/Budget-Purple-6519]

Republicans only pretend to give a fuck about people when there's pressure to unseat them.

If only the majority of red states would realize that voting for just one party is not a good thing, they'd be in a better position.

[u/pulp_affliction → u/Budget-Purple-6519]

I’m voting for her no matter what abbot does

[u/flummox1234 → u/Budget-Purple-6519]

So a moratorium just until voters tick R on the ballot. Texas is going to Texas.

[u/starbetrayer → u/[deleted]]

X5 times so far

[u/silverwoods214 → u/starbetrayer]

Abbott gets x5 his payoff, so far*

[u/opman4 → u/silverwoods214]

Yeah but he'll also loose his job. Fox released a poll showing him leading by only 1 point and that was probably before the THC ban had an effect on polls.

[u/Slammybutt → u/silverwoods214]

We literally just let bribery, uh I mean, lobbying ban thc products b/c alcohol has taken a huge hit and paid off our lt governor. Abbott, Dan Patrick, and Paxton need to be strapped to the grid and harvested for energy.

[u/OPMajoradidas → u/starbetrayer]

Huh I wonder why such a thing is going on. 🤔 maybe one day we'll find out

[u/Julian_Thorne → u/OPMajoradidas]

Hunter Bidens laptop is sucking up all the juice

[u/kinkysubt → u/Julian_Thorne]

Gotta be Obama’s fault, and Hilary’s emails.

[u/Ron-Swanson-Mustache → u/kinkysubt]

Don't forget the immigrants!

[u/ForanAffairs → u/kinkysubt]

That tan suit is disrupting all the power lines.

[u/finnishinsider → u/Julian_Thorne]

Well, that hog has gotta feed.....

[u/mtfw → u/starbetrayer]

I read this in Homer's voice

[u/theweirdball → u/[deleted]]

Instead of fixing their power grid, Republicans would rather just tell you not to use your AC. In the summer. In Texas.

[u/GregAbbottsGoodLeg → u/theweirdball]

They also wanna send people to prison for 10 years for 1/8th of weed. TX is a shithole.

[u/Procrasturbating → u/GregAbbottsGoodLeg]

If their goal was to keep my business away, it’s working.

[u/Karn_Gentrified → u/GregAbbottsGoodLeg]

LIFE IMPRISONMENT for less than a pound.

[u/GregAbbottsGoodLeg → u/Karn_Gentrified]

This is how they’ll fuel forced labor (aka slavery) to replace the workforce lost from deporting all our hard working immigrant neighbors.

[u/7URB0 → u/GregAbbottsGoodLeg]

Why use future-tense? The whole war on drugs was always just a pretense for fuelling the slave economy.

[u/leviathab13186 → u/theweirdball]

The mayor of NYC asked people to set their AC to 77 during a heat wave and the gop said that was communism.

[u/Electrifying2017 → u/leviathab13186]

And then quickly deleted all the Federal advisory info that recommended thermostats be set to 78 degrees.

[u/Lost_Condition_9562 → u/leviathab13186]

No it’s not communism because us Texans will have to do it for the capitalist’s data centers. Totally different you see

[u/melez → u/Lost_Condition_9562]

Totally different! The capitalist power production owners have a state protected right to sell their power to the highest bidder for the highest profits.

If you can’t afford $100/kWh then you need to turn off your AC. /s

It’s like communism except instead of the greater good it’s the greater profits. Ugh. 

[u/OpheliaLives7 → u/theweirdball]

Texas let people freeze to death. Now they’re trying heat stroke

[u/guitarguywh89 → u/OpheliaLives7]

“First they’re cold and now they’re hot? Will the poors just make up their minds” -Texas state officials

[u/zhaoz → u/guitarguywh89]

"on average, the temperature is comfortable, what are people so mad about?!"

[u/RaveGuncle → u/OpheliaLives7]

Didn't Abbott recently legislate construction workers weren't entitled to mandatory rest breaks or something that their cities voted to provide? In that TX heat? Smfh. Talk about the party of "small government."

[u/PhoenixTineldyer → u/RaveGuncle]

It was water breaks and yes

[u/dust4ngel → u/OpheliaLives7]

"what do you mean texans are freezing to death? look at this guy right here, dead of heat stroke. haha, these climate change idiots."

[u/Pale-Acanthaceae-736 → u/theweirdball]

The irony of course is Texas has its own dedicated power grid which is unique to America, and calls itself 'The Energy Capitol of the USA'.

[u/IrascibleOcelot → u/Pale-Acanthaceae-736]

Specifically, they cut the connection to the national grid so they wouldn’t have to abide by federal mandates. Like upgrades and excess capacity for emergencies.

[u/scorlissy → u/theweirdball]

While telling you California is for communists.

[u/Procrasturbating → u/theweirdball]

But they will get it working now! JK, they will just make them use methane generators.

[u/numbersthen0987431 → u/theweirdball]

"At least we ain't got no taxes"

Yes, we know you don't. That's why your power grid goes down when temperature goes below 40F.

[u/Katerinaxoxo → u/theweirdball]

California does the same thing. We get alerts to flex our power or they will have rolling blackouts.

[u/ClashM → u/Katerinaxoxo]

SoCal here, haven't gotten any in years because of all the solar and grid batteries the state has been putting in. Texas has been doing the same with some moderate success, they just don't like to talk about it because solar panels and batteries are for communists apparently.

[u/Dalmahr → u/[deleted]]

It's kinda like, they only care about corporations and not people. They won't ask the data center to reduce capacity so that you can run your AC and not die from the heat.

[u/Metals4J → u/Dalmahr]

It’ll be interesting when the data centers go through brownouts and outages during peak demand and it starts hurting their bottom line. Maybe then something will change.

[u/Old-Set78 → u/Metals4J]

lol you think they'll shut down those segments? ask us who lived through the winter storm where we lost power and water in huge swaths where the power stayed on. even in the middle of the night in empty highrise offices downtown Austin every single window in every single highrise was blazing ALL NIGHT. They refused to even turn out the lights in empty buildings at night while people literally froze to death from there not being enough electricity to go around

[u/Smith6612 → u/Metals4J]

Many years ago the data center I used to work at did a power and infrastructure resiliency study to determine what loads can be shed if absolutely necessary to spare the grid if we ever got a call to start dropping load. You didn't want to be running on diesel generators for too long as the cost of fuel and engine maintenance adds up quickly. You also don't want to be calling in tankers of diesel fuel every day as invoking that 24 hour fueling contract is also big dollars. 

Things got to the point where we went as far as figuring out what doesn't actually need to be on backup power at all. As in, the moment there is a power blip, the device drops. 

Now at the sane time, you don't want to take a data center off of generator and toss it right back onto the grid. Had to be done in a controlled manner or you'd cause all sorts of headaches for the grid across a massive area with the surge in electrical demand that would cause. It can take days to fully cut back to grid power for a massive data center. 

[u/Raptorex27 → u/[deleted]]

Wasn't that "communism" when Mamdani asked New Yorkers to do the same for like...a week?

[u/addiktion → u/[deleted]]

Tell those fucks to build a nuclear power station for all their data centers first on their dime.

If Texas wants to sell out its resources, that is on them but they definitely cannot handle an x5 demand increase on their infrastructure as it is lol. These politicians are dumb.

[u/AugieKS → u/addiktion]

Cities and counties should be able to require data centers to build and fund certain programs before beginning construction. The insane resource consumption and noise pollution should not be offloaded onto the people, they need to account for it themselves as a business cost. If they can't make the math work then it doesn't happen. We need to stop subsidizing business at the expense of the people, and if that means those businesses can't afford to operate then they we're not a good business idea in the first place.

[u/yeahright17 → u/AugieKS]

Cities and counties should be able to require data centers to build and fund certain programs before beginning construction

They can. Cities can absolutely make permits dependent on doing other things.

[u/OnlyGivesEvidence → u/[deleted]]

lmao and conservatives online just gave the performance of a lifetime acting outraged at the Communist actions of Mamdani for asking folks to conserve power...

[u/kthejoker]

How it started:

"Governor Greg Abbott today championed Texas' booming energy industry and highlighted the progress that Texas made in 2024 to increase the electric capacity of the state grid and invest in an all-of-the-above energy approach to solidify Texas as the world's energy hub."

https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/texas-leads-as-energy-capital-of-the-world-in-2024

How's it going:

[u/Johannes_Keppler → u/kthejoker]

'The world's energy hub' lol hyperbole much? These people are delusional.

[u/chronoflect → u/Johannes_Keppler]

They're probably including the oil refineries when they say things like that, not just electricity. Still silly, but a bit less so.

[u/SirLoremIpsum]

"We should invest in EVs"

"Nah the grid can't support. No more EVs until the grids sorted. Sorry greenies but reality can't support it"

also tech bros

"We need millions of data centers tomorrow"

conservatives "yeah mate slam it on it's unamerican not to want it"

[u/Jimm120 → u/SirLoremIpsum]

once the mass surveillance system using AI is fully implemented, I can 100% see republicans all of a sudden want EV's cause they'll control everything with the cars

[u/corr0sive → u/SirLoremIpsum]

It's cause they invested trillions of dollars into AI and crypto, and they want a good ROI.

No one invested this much into EV or alternatives energy.

That's the reason we're seeing so much stupid bullshit.

[u/psychoacer]

Until after the midterms

[u/having_a_blast → u/psychoacer]

The day after the midterms. Maybe he will announce an end to the moratorium as the polls close.

[u/demlet → u/having_a_blast]

That is 1000% a Republican move, and they would laugh openly as they did it while their drooling followers clapped.

[u/yotothyo → u/psychoacer]

Yep, and then after the midterms they will pocket big money and payoffs to allow the data centers to Progress

[u/mkt853]

1,800 data centers to do what? Am I crazy or is that a lot of data centers?

[u/jrobinson3k1 → u/mkt853]

Yeah I don't get it. Who's building all this? Is it hundreds of individual companies or a few big companies building hundreds each? If the latter, why not consolidate into larger data centers?

Edit: Title is misleading. It's not 1800 individual data centers; it's 1800 connection requests. An individual data center can have multiple connection requests, such as when they are taking a phased approach to their build out or wanting to expand current operations. There is a lot of overlap in requests as well, where it's expected some will be rejected in favor of another. There is currently 335 operating data centers, with 248 planned and 140 actively under construction.

[u/nemec → u/jrobinson3k1]

Don't forget that by law (signed in 2023 or 2024 iirc) they're required to take every request seriously, even if there's no contract signed or reasonable steps taken to start planning/construction. You could probably email them asking about connection requests for "your proposed 100GW datacenter" and they'd include it in the numbers.

[u/Wurm42 → u/jrobinson3k1]

Thanks for clarifying that.

[u/mindgamehagi → u/mkt853]

The same thing every other data center do, chatbots. People that own them don't care about using AI for positive thing they want to make money quick and Chatbot right now is the quickest way.

[u/gerbilshower → u/mindgamehagi]

on one hand, yes.

on the other hand, you need to look far more seriously and disapprovingly at these data centers. because you don't need that many for chat bots. they are being used to pool and collaborate data on individual human beings. all the data a human produces will be subject to sale and use by these AI companies who will then sell your 'profile' to companies at a cost. your data, collected without your formal consent, sold to a 3rd party in order to either control or manipulate you as an individual.

its WAY more sinister than chatbots.

[u/UniquesOnly → u/gerbilshower]

Video and audio from every cell phone, webcam, tv, fridge, roomba etc 24/7

cool, good

[u/gerbilshower → u/UniquesOnly]

100% all of this. they have been collecting our data for a long time, we did nothing about it. i mean, we found out we had collectively been spied on by our own government and did nothing about it.

difference is they lacked the means to scale the product until now. you ARE the product. how to control you and siphon the most of your resources out of you is the goal.

[u/PithMango → u/gerbilshower]

this here. if you are having a terrible time convincing people that the data harvest will affect that "because nothing's happened so far" they did not have the means to actually analyze what they had, in realtime.

they do now.

if you do not bring this up they will carry on as usual. important talking-point. it's NOT the same now.

[u/turby14 → u/gerbilshower]

Also to be sold to the government without a warrant.

[u/CautiousHashtag → u/mindgamehagi]

Nah. Datacenters to store the surveillance of American citizens. 

[u/NamelessTacoShop]

Damn. So this is a niche comment. But there is a franchise in the cyberpunk genre called Shadowrun.

One of the big things in that universe is that a megacorp had a problem with the national power grid being too unreliable. Which led then to demand they be allowed to have their own nuclear power plant, which in turn led to a major nuclear accident and the corporations building private military forces to defend those power plants. Which led to megacorps toppling the governments and running the world…

[u/Mrs_shitthisismylife → u/NamelessTacoShop]

Well if that’s not oddly terrifying, I don’t know what is. Reminds me of the megacorps running everything in Alien Earth and Bladerunner. Our future dystopian nightmare 🥴

[u/needlesslyaghost → u/NamelessTacoShop]

Oh hey I love Shadowrun! Maybe not so much in this context, however.

[u/smallest_table]

This is just a dog and pony show for the midterms. Once they are over, the Texas GOP will be handing out datacenter apporvals like Frisco hands out speeding tickets.

[u/rtduvall]

They just slowed it down to give them time to figure out how to do this since they have their own electrical grid.

Rest assured, Texans will get fucked over this.

Hot wheels can’t get enough of fascism.

[u/kalidoscopiclyso]

There is a bigger problem— companies that don’t draw off the grid can’t be held responsible for their power generation pollution according to EPA. It’s a brand new rule that hasn’t been taken to court yet

https://startupfortune.com/the-epa-just-gave-ai-data-centers-a-pollution-exemption-that-may-not-survive-a-courtroom/

[u/NSFWies → u/kalidoscopiclyso]

Elon musk will just run natural gas generators forever then. Or until he can do local nuclear and turn Memphis into a waste site.

Fuck, we are going to have meltdowns, I know it. Fuck

[u/thermalcry]

How long before that fucking moron Elon has a press conference claiming he's going to rebuild the entire grid from scratch for Texas and will only need 5 billion of taxpayer money?

[u/weggaan_weggaat → u/thermalcry]

Up that amount by an order of magnitude.

[u/thermalcry → u/weggaan_weggaat]

Elon grifts by quoting low and delivering nothing.

[u/rgvtim]

Slams Breaks until mid-November. As much as this makes sense to do, the only reason its being done by Abbot is that it is an election year and the GOP actually has the tiniest bit of competition, once the election is over, they will put them all back on schedule, including more power plants which they will make the citizens of Texas pay for.

[u/motherlesschildren]

Only reason they paused is because people caught up on their bs.

The people still hold the power and we seem to forget that. They fuck us over until we speak up.

[u/Entire_Employment_70]

Texas is also welcome to get their data center contractors the fuck out of my city and state, ive never seen such selfish and reckless conduct on the roadways, these people are an actual fucking scourge.

[u/rbfeverythingsucks]

Dude, what are these data centers being used for, and why so many, and why shouldn’t I believe some of what they are up to is nefarious? I genuinely hate ,hate data centers.

[u/Grumac → u/rbfeverythingsucks]

Flock camera data storage and AI to track U.S. citizens and create predictive profiles on our movements.

[u/_Bren10_]

It’s fiiiiiiine, the peons can just go without electric for a few hours every day. Not like they do anything for the economy anyways.

[u/OnceUponASlime]

Fucking clowns. How did all these "tough Texans" let these absolute criminals destroy their state? Losers.

[u/BitsInTheBlood → u/OnceUponASlime]

Wait until they tell these bozos they're going to open up a coal fired power plan right smack in their town. Cuz solar is CoMmUnIsM...

[u/PersepolisBullseye → u/OnceUponASlime]

There are 254 counties or some shit here. 4/5 of the largest metros are blue. You can’t change the minds of people in the other 250, unfortunately.

Data centers might be the thing tho.

[u/Crafty_Ish1973]

The grid here in Texas is held together with duct tape and prayers. There's no way in hell it could handle 5x the demand without collapsing completely.

[u/Theanykey21 → u/Crafty_Ish1973]

I knew it was bad, but didn’t realize how bad. I moved to a tiny little corner of Texas that ties into the east coast grid. I now have underground lines and the power doesn’t go out every time a frog farts at night…

I still get nervous anytime a storm rolls through even though the power here has never gone out long enough to reset the clocks.

[u/GLASSMANJD]

You can't even keep your people warm in winter and you are going to drain that much power?

[u/TeekTheReddit]

LOL, Texas can't even keep their lights on when it snows.

[u/TheSpicyTomato22]

And they're worried about electric cars overloading the power grid lol

[u/atreides78723]

Not advocating for data centers or anything, but maybe if we had, you know, updated the grid… ?

[u/duncandreizehen]

Don’t sleep on the corruption in Texas. I don’t believe they’ve put the brakes on anything.

[u/TastySore]

Good luck staying warm this winter, Texans!

[u/Hawwkeye79]

And Texas famously has a great power grid!!

[u/SplendidPunkinButter]

Just spitballing here: maybe we don’t need AI. We could just not have it anymore. Everything would be fine.

[u/Thin_Ad_1846]

474 gigawatts?

[u/okram2k]

you know somethings bad if even Texas is "wait, hold on"

[u/PonasSumushtinis]

Remember when they said power grid can't "deal" with all charhing electric car stations? But somehow few years later it can take on massive data centers.

[u/R3D4F]

Texas couldn’t keep the power on during a storm without data centers, how did they think this would play out?

[u/smb3d]

The fact that 1800 datacenters are being built is absolutely insane. There is no way anyone thinks this is sustainable unless there is a massive shift in how the compute is done.

[u/katarh → u/smb3d]

I doubt even a third of those will actually get built.

Saw the news earlier today that some of the construction companies who won the contracts to build data centers for Elon Musk are suing to put a lien on the properties because they never got their final payments.