Hannah Norton

With large parts of the state under an extreme heat warning or heat advisory through July 23, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas logged over 90,000 megawatts of demand July 22. All demand records are preliminary.

With large parts of the state under an extreme heat warning or heat advisory through July 23, the operator of Texas' independent power grid is projecting record-breaking electric demand this week.

As more data centers are being built in Texas, the state's water planning agency is warning that limited information is available about the booming industry and its impact on water supplies.

The PUC and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas outlined their data center policies in response to a June 10 order from the governor, although many of those projects were already in the works, according to agency documents.

The data center industry warned that tax exemptions are necessary to continue attracting new projects to Texas, while senators and members of the public said they did not think eliminating the costly program would deter data center developers.

We did this by analysing a range of factors, including the number of coworking areas and broadband speeds, as well as the number of attractions in each city, and affordability costs.

Across Texas, public school districts have approved at least 150 campus closures in the last three years as they grapple with declining enrollment, state accountability issues and hefty budget shortfalls.

Strict requirements that were designed to weed out speculative data center projects could prevent major industrial projects from coming to the state, experts warned during a July 29 hearing.

The governor directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas —the state utility regulator and grid operator, respectively—to conduct “a comprehensive verification and audit” of all data center applicants “before any additional data centers are approved to move forward.”

shows. Enrollment may grow as the school year kicks off and more families opt in to the program, according to the state comptroller's office.