Sunday, April 12, 2026

400 Projects, Two Unanswered Questions, One Legislative Clock

Texas lawmakers just put 400 planned facilities and the state's claim on 30% of national data center demand under a two-question stress test: who pays for grid upgrades, and who actually knows how much water these projects need over the next half-century. Aligned's 540 MW Caprock groundbreaking in Hale County and Amazon's all-infrastructure-costs-covered Mississippi playbook are showing developers exactly how to answer both questions before legislators make the asking mandatory.

Today's Lead

Texas lawmakers heard testimony Thursday confirming the state will capture nearly 30% of national data center demand by 2028, with over 400 facilities planned. The hearing before the House State Affairs Committee surfaced the two questions that will define whether Texas holds that position: can the grid absorb the load without shifting costs to residential ratepayers, and does anyone actually know how much water these projects will consume over the next 30 to 50 years?

The same week, Aligned Data Centers broke ground on a 540 MW campus in Hale County, demonstrating exactly what prepared developers do to answer those questions before legislators ask them.

[1]·[2]·[3]

Power

Texas grid capacity becomes the gating question for 400-plus projects.

ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas told legislators a transmission capacity study is underway to map available infrastructure and allocate annual interconnection capacity over a five-year horizon. Vistra EVP Stacey Dore and Oncor VP Brian Lloyd argued data centers will optimize existing transmission and spread fixed costs, with heavy infrastructure expense falling on operators who can absorb it. PUC Chair Thomas Gleeson said generation-side price increases are unlikely given Texas's renewable and battery buildout, but flagged the state's multibillion-dollar transmission overhaul as a potential cost pressure. The PUC is developing rules requiring data centers to self-supply power during peak demand.

Meanwhile, Chevron plans a 2.5 GW (expandable to 5 GW) behind-the-meter gas power complex in the Permian for a single hyperscale customer, targeting commercial operation in 2027. The model bypasses ERCOT interconnection entirely, consuming associated gas that faces pipeline egress constraints and Waha price volatility. Chevron is partnering with Engine No. 1 and GE Vernova on similar "power foundry" campuses elsewhere. OpenAI's freeze on its UK Stargate project over power costs and regulatory burden reinforces that jurisdictions solving energy access fastest will capture disproportionate capital. Risk: if ERCOT's transmission study reveals less available capacity than the queue suggests, hundreds of projects face repricing or delay, and behind-the-meter models like Chevron's gain a structural advantage that fragments Texas's integrated grid.

[1]·[2]·[4]·[5]

Water

Developers race to answer the question Texas lawmakers are now asking.

Aligned's Project Caprock in Hale County deploys DeltaFlow closed-loop liquid cooling with air-cooled heat rejection, explicitly protecting the Ogallala Aquifer. Skybox Data Centers told legislators a typical 150,000 to 300,000 square foot facility needs only 25,000 to 30,000 gallons of initial water charge at a 2% loss rate. Meta's $10 billion El Paso expansion specifies closed-loop cooling to minimize consumption in arid West Texas. These are strong claims, but lawmakers pressed the point: no one is modeling regional water availability over 30 to 50-year horizons, and comprehensive consumption data remains absent.

Food & Water Watch is escalating criticism nationally, calling closed-loop cooling claims "clever advertising" and flagging xAI's Memphis facility withdrawing 30,000 gallons daily from a non-renewable aquifer with a graywater recycling project now on indefinite hold. Colorado faces similar pressure, with Xcel Energy warning of hundreds of thousands of gallons daily from conventional evaporative cooling. Risk: the absence of standardized water reporting gives opponents a credible transparency argument. Developers who can produce verified gallons-per-MW data will hold a decisive advantage as disclosure requirements tighten.

[6]·[1]·[7]·[8]·[9]

Politics

Community opposition is becoming an electoral force, and Texas is not immune.

Port Washington, Wisconsin, voted roughly 2-to-1 to require voter approval before awarding data center tax breaks, too late to stop OpenAI/Oracle's $15 billion facility but a clear signal. Monterey Park, California, faces a June ballot measure to ban data centers outright after HMC StratCap withdrew its application. Boulder City, Nevada, has a November referendum on data center land use, with 2,100 petition signatures already gathered. Festus, Missouri, voters ousted their entire City Council over a $6 billion approval. At least 11 states are considering construction pause legislation. None of this is partisan: Port Washington and Festus sit in deep-red counties.

Texas's competitive advantage, fast permitting and a business-friendly regulatory culture, insulates the state from the worst of this trend. But the Thursday hearing shows Texas legislators are watching. House State Affairs Committee Chairman Ken King committed to additional hearings. Amazon's $25 billion Mississippi commitment and willingness to fund all grid infrastructure costs illustrates the developer posture that preempts political risk. Aligned's Caprock playbook, funding dedicated electrical infrastructure, launching workforce academies, and securing local endorsements before breaking ground, is the template. Risk: developers who treat Texas as a rubber-stamp jurisdiction will find the political climate shifting beneath them. The $30 million deposit requirement challenged in Thursday's testimony shows interconnection friction is already generating legislative attention.

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Sources we cited

13 articles across 13 publishers · 78 reviewed today

[1]KWTX
Texas lawmakers hear testimony on state’s growing data center industry, as Texas set to become data center hub
Apr 10, 2026·AUSTIN, Texas (KWTX) - Texas lawmakers heard from energy experts and data center companies as the state is set to become the country’s large…
[2]Construction Owners Club
Texas Lawmakers Question Data Center Impact on Power Costs and Grid Reliability
Apr 10, 2026·Gift a Payroll Tax Calendar to your Payroll Admins this holiday season. → Texas lawmakers are intensifying scrutiny of the state’s rapidly …
[3]Aligned Data Centers / GlobeNewswire
Aligned Data Centers Breaks Ground on “Project Caprock,” a
Apr 9, 2026·April 09, 2026 16:30 ET | Source: Aligned Data Centers …
[4]East Daley / Chevron
Chevron to Build Data-Center Power Campus in Permian, Supporting New Basin Demand
Jan 6, 2026·Chevron (CVX) is emerging as a player in AI power generation. The major plans to build its first natural gas-fired power complex for a data …
[5]OilPrice / OpenAI UK
OpenAI Freezes UK AI Data Center Plans Over Power Prices, Red Tape
Apr 10, 2026·Click Here for 150+ Global Oil Prices Click Here for 150+ Global Oil Prices Click Here for 150+ Global Oil Prices Click Here for 150+ Glo…
[6]Yahoo Finance / Aligned
Aligned Data Centers Breaks Ground on “Project Caprock,” a Sustainable 540 MW Next-Generation Data Center Campus in Northwest Texas
Apr 9, 2026·Project Expected to Anchor $5B in Investments and Deliver Long-Term Economic and Job Growth for the Community LUBBOCK, Texas, April 09, 202…
[7]Gotrade / Meta
Meta's $10B Texas Data Center Investment
Mar 27, 2026·Gotrade News - Meta Platforms has announced a major expansion of its El Paso data center to one gigawatt, increasing its investment to over …
[8]Food & Water Watch
Don’t Be Fooled! 7 Data Center Greenwashing Lies
Apr 10, 2026·As the backlash against data centers grows, Big Tech and its allies are doubling down on greenwashing scams to help their image. Don’t fall …
[9]Colorado Newsline
What data centers really mean for Colorado’s future
Dec 12, 2025·(Stock photo by Imaginima/Getty Images) Colorado is in the middle of a data center boom. You may or may not notice it as you travel along t…
[10]Canary Media
Data centers are on the ballot in 2026 — and just failed the first test
Apr 10, 2026·This analysis and news roundup come from the Canary Media Weekly newsletter. Sign up to get it every Friday. There’s nothing like a common …
[11]Pasadena Star News
LA County cities weigh the data center question in the face of AI surge
Apr 12, 2026·A nationwide expansion of controversial and resource-guzzling artificial intelligence data centers has reached Los Angeles County, and the w…
[12]Boulder City Review
Proposed data center draws ire of some Boulder City residents
Apr 10, 2026·The data center could be the city’s first. A group of residents are at odds with developers and city officials who see the potential for rev…
[13]CoStar / Amazon Mississippi
News | Amazon nearly doubles Mississippi data center investment
Apr 10, 2026·Amazon plans to nearly double its data center investments in Mississippi as part of the tech giant’s strategy to spend $200 billion this yea…

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