Behind the Fence: Texas Gigawatts Stack Up Faster Than Rules Can Follow

CyrusOne and Constellation Energy's 760-MW data center campus in Freestone County, built behind the meter at a Calpine gas plant, is the latest and loudest entry in a behind-the-fence buildout now measured in dozens of gigawatts across Texas. From Fermi America's 11-GW Amarillo campus to Crusoe's 1.2-GW Stargate facility in Abilene, operators are betting that building power at the load beats waiting for the grid. But the PUC's active large-load proceeding could reshape the economics of every one of these deals, even as a 230-group national coalition organizes to block new construction outright and the largest Panhandle projects sit atop a depleting Ogallala Aquifer with no disclosed water plans. The regulatory reckoning isn't hypothetical: it's running against a clock set by deals already signed.