Texas halts data center connections to power grid amid overwhelming demand
Texas halts data center connections to power grid amid overwhelming demand
德克萨斯州因电力需求过载，暂停数据中心接入电网
Nowhere is the US data center boom bigger than in Texas. But less than a year after declaring Texas the “epicenter of AI development,” Governor Greg Abbott has declared a moratorium on all new power grid connections for data centers—at least until developers provide more information about their projects’ potential impacts on the grid and communities.
在美国，没有哪个地方的数据中心热潮比德克萨斯州更猛烈。然而，在宣布德克萨斯州为“人工智能发展中心”不到一年后，州长格雷格·阿博特（Greg Abbott）宣布暂停所有数据中心的新电网接入申请——至少在开发商提供更多关于其项目对电网和社区潜在影响的信息之前，禁令将持续有效。
The Republican governor directed regulators in an August 3 announcement at the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the grid operators at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to perform a “comprehensive verification and audit of all data centers advancing through ERCOT’s interconnection process.” As an independent system operator, ERCOT oversees a power grid that operates separately from the rest of the United States and provides services to most of Texas.
这位共和党州长在8月3日的公告中指示德克萨斯州公用事业委员会（Public Utility Commission of Texas）的监管机构以及德克萨斯州电力可靠性委员会（ERCOT）的电网运营商，对所有正在进行ERCOT互联流程的数据中心进行“全面核查和审计”。作为独立的系统运营商，ERCOT负责监管一个独立于美国其他地区运行的电网，并为德克萨斯州大部分地区提供电力服务。
Texas has aggressively sought data center development with its availability of cheap land and relatively abundant energy resources, along with offering state incentives, like tax breaks and fewer regulations. That puts the state on track to surpass Virginia in becoming the largest US data center market. But the recent AI boom and the accompanying frenzy of data center development threaten to overwhelm the Texas grid on paper, despite the state leading the country in adding new power generation.
德克萨斯州凭借廉价的土地供应、相对丰富的能源资源，以及税收减免和监管宽松等州政府激励措施，积极招揽数据中心开发。这使得该州有望超越弗吉尼亚州，成为美国最大的数据中心市场。然而，近期的人工智能热潮及随之而来的数据中心建设狂潮，在理论上已对德州电网构成过载威胁，尽管该州在新增发电量方面处于全国领先地位。
The ERCOT interconnection queue currently includes more than 1,800 projects representing over 474 gigawatts’ worth of requests to connect to the Texas grid—more than five times Texas’ record peak electricity demand—and about 90 percent of those power connection requests come from data centers. “That unprecedented load growth could endanger the reliability and stability of the Texas electric grid,” according to the statement from Abbott’s office.
目前，ERCOT的互联排队名单中包含超过1800个项目，申请接入德州电网的电力需求超过474吉瓦（GW）——这是德州历史最高峰值电力需求的五倍多——其中约90%的电力接入申请来自数据中心。阿博特办公室的声明称：“这种前所未有的负荷增长可能会危及德克萨斯州电网的可靠性和稳定性。”
Many of those data center projects may never materialize for various reasons. But ERCOT has still forecast that data center demand and other factors could drive statewide electricity demand to double the current demand record by 2032, according to The Texas Tribune. The AI boom has led to additional consequences for Texas. A data center tax break that originally passed with bipartisan support in 2014 has ballooned into more than $1 billion in tax breaks annually for data center developers—and The Texas Tribune reported the state government estimates it could lose $3.2 billion in sales tax revenue over the next two years.
由于各种原因，许多数据中心项目可能永远不会落地。但据《德克萨斯论坛报》（The Texas Tribune）报道，ERCOT仍预测，数据中心需求和其他因素可能导致全州电力需求在2032年前翻倍至当前纪录的两倍。人工智能热潮也给德州带来了其他后果。一项最初于2014年在两党支持下通过的数据中心税收减免政策，如今已膨胀至每年为数据中心开发商提供超过10亿美元的税收减免。据《德克萨斯论坛报》报道，州政府估计未来两年内可能损失32亿美元的销售税收入。
The new directive from Abbott requires audits of data center projects that include how much data centers would depend on the ERCOT grid for power, along with obtaining projections of data centers’ annual and peak electricity consumption. The directive further requires information on how much individual data center projects depend on state financial assistance, along with details on each data center project’s ownership and controlling interests.
阿博特的新指令要求对数据中心项目进行审计，内容包括数据中心对ERCOT电网的电力依赖程度，以及获取数据中心年度和峰值电力消耗的预测。该指令还要求提供各数据中心项目对州政府财政援助的依赖程度信息，以及每个项目的所有权和控股权益详情。
Abbott also directed state regulators and grid operators to discover the extent to which data centers’ cooling systems and water usage may draw upon local water supplies needed by local communities. However, the governor’s directive does not mention the fact that data centers often use much more water through their power generation sources than directly through their cooling systems—a fact highlighted by researchers like Shaolei Ren at the University of California, Riverside.
阿博特还指示州监管机构和电网运营商调查数据中心的冷却系统和用水量在多大程度上可能占用当地社区所需的供水。然而，州长的指令并未提及一个事实：数据中心通过其电力来源消耗的水量往往远高于其冷却系统直接消耗的水量——加州大学河滨分校的任绍雷（Shaolei Ren）等研究人员强调了这一点。
Texas communities like Corpus Christi have already been grappling with a yearslong drought. But their water woes have been compounded by both climate change and large energy and chemical companies’ operations that have “sucked the region dry,” according to San Antonio News. A Sierra Club report looking at federal data showed how Texas natural gas plants used 56 billion gallons of water in 2024, while coal plants consumed an additional 34 billion gallons, and nuclear plants used 26 billion gallons. By comparison, Texas data centers directly used 8 billion gallons of water for cooling purposes, but many such data centers rely on water-intensive power generation sources.
像科珀斯克里斯蒂（Corpus Christi）这样的德州社区多年来一直饱受干旱困扰。据《圣安东尼奥新闻》（San Antonio News）报道，气候变化以及大型能源和化工企业的运营“抽干了该地区”，加剧了当地的用水危机。塞拉俱乐部（Sierra Club）一份基于联邦数据的报告显示，2024年德州的天然气发电厂消耗了560亿加仑水，燃煤电厂消耗了340亿加仑，核电厂消耗了260亿加仑。相比之下，德州数据中心直接用于冷却的水量为80亿加仑，但许多此类数据中心依赖于高耗水的发电来源。
Abbott’s directive also seeks to increase scrutiny of measures that data centers are taking to “reduce impacts on neighboring property owners and communities, including noise mitigation, light controls, setbacks, traffic improvements, emergency response coordination and other community protection measures.” But the directive conspicuously neglects to mention local air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions associated with data centers. Nonprofit newsroom Floodlight has reported that AI companies used a local permit loophole in Texas to install gas-powered turbines and backup diesel generators on site at new data center campuses—all without requiring more extensive environmental reviews or outreach to local communities.
阿博特的指令还寻求加强对数据中心所采取措施的审查，以“减少对周边业主和社区的影响，包括噪音缓解、灯光控制、退让距离、交通改善、应急响应协调及其他社区保护措施”。但该指令明显忽略了与数据中心相关的当地空气污染和温室气体排放问题。非营利新闻机构Floodlight报道称，人工智能公司利用德州当地的许可漏洞，在新的数据中心园区现场安装了燃气轮机和备用柴油发电机，且无需进行更广泛的环境审查或与当地社区沟通。
Notably, the Texas pause on data center grid connections does not apply to data center projects that are building their own on-site power generation to get up and running as fast as possible. That “behind-the-meter power” strategy has become increasingly common among tech and AI companies like Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle, OpenAI, and Anthropic, according to research by market intelligence platform CleanView.
值得注意的是，德州此次暂停数据中心电网接入的举措，并不适用于那些正在建设自有现场发电设施以尽快投入运营的数据中心项目。据市场情报平台CleanView的研究，这种“表后电力”（behind-the-meter power）策略在Meta、微软、亚马逊、甲骨文、OpenAI和Anthropic等科技和人工智能公司中已变得越来越普遍。
Such behind-the-meter power typically relies on natural gas. But with lengthy order backlogs for combined-cycle gas turbines, CleanView says data center developers are turning to alternative sources, such as “mobile gas generators strapped to semitrucks” and “aeroderivative turbines originally designed for aircraft and warships.” Texas leads all US states in total announced behind-the-meter capacity for data centers by having 40 gigawatts of such announced capacity. That factor is driven by the Texas Permian Basin gas supply and “extensive pipeline infrastructure” along with the “state’s permissive regulatory environment,” according to CleanView.
这种“表后电力”通常依赖天然气。但由于联合循环燃气轮机的订单积压严重，CleanView表示，数据中心开发商正转向替代能源，例如“绑在半挂卡车上的移动燃气发电机”和“最初为飞机和军舰设计的航空衍生燃气轮机”。德克萨斯州以40吉瓦的已宣布表后电力容量，在全美各州中处于领先地位。据CleanView称，这一因素得益于德州二叠纪盆地（Permian Basin）的天然气供应、“广泛的管道基础设施”以及“该州宽松的监管环境”。