Wednesday, July 1, 2026

Batch Zero Sorts 445 GW of Load Into Winners and Waiters

ERCOT's Batch Zero sorts 445 GW of large-load requests into projects that make the July 10 filing and those waiting a full cycle. Developers pairing behind-the-meter generation with locked water agreements clear every gate; the ones betting on a grid slot alone learn what a missed cycle costs.

Today's Lead

ERCOT's batch zero rule takes effect July 11, replacing the serial-study process that let projects restart every time a new giant load hit the queue. The new policy sorts 445+ gigawatts of pending large loads into base, studied, and excluded categories, with filing deadlines July 10 and July 24 and a full batch study targeted for early April.

This is the single most consequential procedural change for Texas load developers this year. Where a project sits in the batch, and whether it clears the 75-megawatt cutoff, now determines who gets power on schedule and who waits for the next cycle.

[1]

Power

Developers stop waiting for the queue and bring their own generation

The queue math is pushing capital off the grid. ERCOT's interconnection backlog exceeds 300 GW, and developers are responding by owning their power outright. Cummins will supply HSK78 and QSK60 natural gas gensets to Circe Energy's behind-the-meter microgrid for a West Texas HPC campus, deliveries running 2026 through 2030, phased energization starting 2027. The buy-versus-build logic reinforces it: US power and utilities announced nearly $142 billion in transactions in 2025, with 62 GW of gas-fired generation trading across 23 deals worth almost $89 billion, per Deloitte, as developers pay a premium for assets with interconnection already solved.

Firm power is getting staged, too. Blue Energy and GE Vernova's 2.5 GW Port of Victoria project pairs two 7HA.02 turbines (roughly 1 GW by 2030) with up to five BWRX-300 SMRs (1.5 GW by 2032), FID targeted for 2027, anchored by Crusoe's 4.9 GW of contracted capacity. The risk cuts against anyone still betting on a grid slot alone: self-supply costs more upfront and demands gas access, modular architecture, and phased deployment. Developers without that toolkit will watch faster competitors energize first.

[2]·[3]·[4]

Water

Scarcity moves from talking point to permit condition

Water is now the gating factor at the county level, and Texas developers should read the out-of-state signal closely. Washington County, Maryland approved a 12-month moratorium June 30 on a 4-1 vote, with staff studying whether developers should be required to build self-supporting water and power infrastructure. Resident geologist Kathleen Thompson testified that county wells are hit harder by drought than elsewhere in Maryland. In Texas, the pressure is regionalized: the Edwards Aquifer faces particular strain as at least 248 new projects join 335 existing facilities.

Federal messaging won't cover the gap. Energy Secretary Chris Wright called datacenter water fears "overblown," citing the industry's 0.2% share of US daily use, but large facilities can draw up to 5 million gallons daily, and the argument lands differently in water-stressed geography. Developers who bring site-specific water agreements, verified offsets, and transparent consumption tracking to the table before permit review will clear it. Those hoping Washington talking points travel to a county commissioners court will find they don't.

[5]·[6]·[7]

Politics

Light-touch policy has an expiration date, and Texas set the clock to 2027

The regulatory posture is shifting under developers' feet. Gov. Greg Abbott moved from promoting Texas as an AI "epicenter" to announcing that regulating the industry will be a priority in the 2027 legislative session. The transparency pressure that precedes regulation is building fast: Erin Brockovich's report collected 3,862 resident submissions across 49 states in a month, the dominant complaint being silence around NDAs and back-door deals. A Gallup survey shows 71% of Americans oppose datacenters near them.

Virginia shows where captive-hub politics leads. Its General Assembly passed a 1.1 cent/kWh levy on datacenter electric use, projected at $600 million annually, with Gov. Spanberger calling it "only the beginning." Texas developers weighing the commonwealth should price that in. At home, the smarter play is to volunteer disclosure, articulate local benefit, and engage the batch zero deadlines and any 2027 rulemaking early. The developers who help write the rules will find them workable. The ones who wait will find the rules written around them.

[6]·[8]·[9]

Sources we cited

9 articles across 9 publishers · 304 reviewed today

[1]Texas Energy and Power Newsletter
What batch zero settles and what it leaves open
Jul 1, 2026·Caitlin Smith and Jason Ryan on what ERCOT’s batch zero large-load queue process fixes, and the threshold and timing questions that determin…
[2]Post Journal
Texas data center to use Cummins natural gas generators
Jun 29, 2026·Pictured are Cummins Inc. natural gas generator units. Units like these will be used in Texas to provide behind-the-meter microgrid power fo…
[3]Datacenter Knowledge
Why AI Data Centers Make Existing Power Plants More Valuable
Jun 30, 2026·As AI accelerates electricity demand, utilities and investors are paying a growing premium for existing generation that can reach the grid f…
[4]POWER Magazine
Blue Energy, GE Vernova Advance ‘Gas Bridge’ Model to Unlock Nuclear Finance
Jul 1, 2026·Blue Energy, GE Vernova, and Crusoe are advancing a gas-to-nuclear model that pairs natural gas with SMRs to deliver firm power for AI data …
[5]The Herald-Mail
Washington County Commissioners approve data center moratorium - The Herald-Mail
Jun 30, 2026·(This story was updated to add a comment from a Transource transmission line project spokesperson.) The Washington County Commissioners vot…
[6]KRGV
Hundreds of data centers are coming to Texas. Here’s what you need to know.
Jul 1, 2026·In the span of a couple years, hundreds of massive electricity- and water-hungry data centers have proposed construction in Texas — a verita…
[7]Benzinga
Energy Secretary Chris Wright Says Data Center Fears Are 'Overblown'
Jul 1, 2026·U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright pushed back against growing criticism of data center expansion, calling environmental and job-loss concer…
[8]The Brockovich Report
If Data Centers Are So Great, Why Are They Being Built in Secret?
May 27, 2026·I have spent my career listening to the people, especially those who were told to sit down and be quiet, who were told their backyard was sa…
[9]PCMag
The State With the Most Data Centers Will Now Tax Their Energy Use
Jun 30, 2026·The state that is home to more data centers than any other will tax the electricity these cloud computing complexes use, but data center ope…

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