Texas: Governor Abbott Announces Skybox, Digital Realty, Mara Commit To Comply With His Data Center Standards

Governor Greg Abbott today announced that data center companies Skybox, Digital Realty, and Mara will comply with the standards and guidelines he established for data centers.

"I established clear guardrails to ensure data centers protect our electric grid, conserve our water, respect our neighborhoods, and pay their own way," said Governor Abbott. "They must not pass costs on to Texas families or interfere with their quality of life."

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Earlier this summer, Governor Abbott established clear, commonsense statewide standards to ensure data center development does not come at the expense of Texas families or communities. The Governor directed the Public Utilities Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to ensure data centers:

• Pay for their electric infrastructure instead of shifting costs onto Texas families and small businesses.
• Reuse their own water.
• Reduce the cost of electricity for Texans.
• Do not disrupt residential neighborhoods to preserve Texas' quality of life.
• Pay their own way and eliminate reliance on outdated taxpayer-funded incentives.

In addition, the PUCT and ERCOT will examine each data center project and how they will:

• Pay their own way by disclosing all taxpayer-funded incentives, grants, abatements, and other public financial assistance tied to the project.
• Provide their own power by detailing projected electricity demand and plans for on-site generation or other measures to reduce reliance on the ERCOT grid.
• Protect Texas water resources by identifying water sources, projected water use, water reuse procedures, and water-efficient cooling technologies.
• Outline measures to reduce impacts on neighboring property owners and communities, including noise mitigation, light controls, setbacks, traffic improvements, emergency response coordination, and other community protect measures.
• Provide full transparency by disclosing project ownership and controlling interests.

The PUCT and ERCOT must receive and audit this information before data center projects can move forward.

"The PUCT and ERCOT cannot make decisions to guarantee grid stability and reliability based on substantially incomplete information," Governor Abbott continued.

Any data center company that fails to comply with ERCOT's audit process will be subject to having it's approval denied.

Since Governor Abbott issued these commonsense directives, the following companies have responded:

• Diode announced that it failed to meet the Governor's standards and will not pursue a proposed data center in Henderson County.
• Amazon sent a letter stating they are committed to working with the State of Texas and embracing the Governor's standards.
• Google welcomed Texas' standards and committed to work with state leaders to ensure data centers increase affordability, protect resources, and create new jobs.
• QTS announced they committed to comply with the standards and guidelines the Governor established and will work with elected officials, regulators, utilities, and local communities to ensure that data center investment benefits Texans.

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