Wednesday, July 29, 2026

AMD's 15-Year Lease Only Pays Off If West Texas Transmission Lands on Time

AMD's $14B, 15-year lease with Core Scientific doubles the site to 1.1 GW, but delivery lands in H1 2027, after the ride-through mandate, the PUCT's push for direct authority, and a $3.3B exemption fight all reshape the ground under it. Developers who lock generation and transmission position now make delivery; the rest inherit those rules mid-build.

Today's Lead

Core Scientific locked in $14B over 15 years with AMD, adding contracted portfolio to 1.1 GW of AI capacity across five campuses, with Pecos, Texas as the anchor delivering in H1 2027. AMD directly leased 377 MW at Pecos, Hunt County, and Muskogee, plus reservation rights on up to 1,925 MW more through December 2028, which could push the partnership toward 2.5 GW. The deal validates a pre-build strategy: develop the campus, then secure long-term tenants, but Core Scientific's own benchmark of $11M to $12M per megawatt delivered flags the capital and permitting intensity that only converts to cash if West Texas transmission and generation land on schedule.

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NATIONAL CONTEXT

The out-of-state signal is thick today, and it points one direction: subsidies are losing to infrastructure constraints. Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen signed a July 21 executive order blocking new data center tax incentives under the ImagiNE Nebraska Act, grandfathering existing projects and standing up a task force to protect land, water, and power. New York Governor Kathy Hochul's July 14 one-year hyperscale moratorium cites utility rates and water, though the rate case doesn't hold up against the numbers: New York residents pay 29.45 cents per kWh to Texas's 16.99 cents, despite Texas hosting twice the data center load. New York's rate problem traces to Indian Point's retirement and 27 GW stuck in its interconnection queue, not datacenter demand.

Oregon's House passed a one-year tax-abatement moratorium the same day a Data Center Coalition "Connects" nonprofit registered there; parallel groups now run identical ad campaigns in Oregon, Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Texas. On the federal side, Kentucky Power and PPL signed the White House "Ratepayer Protection Pledge," which 23 governors and 187 companies have joined, but an ICF analysis warns bills could still rise 15 to 40 percent by 2030 absent real cost-allocation rules. Bottom line for site selection: a pledge signed in 2026 won't override a statute passed in 2027, and Texas developers who lock generation and transmission position first sidestep the queue and supply traps that moratorium states are living through.

[3]·[4]·[5]·[6]

Power

Galaxy's McGregor Campus Puts Developer Dollars on the Grid First

Galaxy Digital acquired 500 acres in McGregor for a $400M-plus campus starting at 74 MW, deliberately parked below ERCOT's 75 MW large-load threshold before expanding toward multi-hundred-megawatt scale through 2030. The structure is the story: Galaxy privately funds an on-site substation, posts financial security for utility upgrades, and pays for water infrastructure, isolating McLennan County ratepayers from buildout costs. Galaxy says it negotiated most of these terms before Governor Greg Abbott's June directive to the PUCT and ERCOT, so the market was already moving toward developer-funded grid.

Bottom line: developers who bundle power procurement, queue position, and private infrastructure funding into one development agreement close faster; those treating grid connection as a post-land problem sequence against utilities that've moved on.

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Grid

Ride-Through Rules Take Effect August 1, and the Clock Is a Sequencing Line

A transmission fault in Northern Virginia last week knocked 3 GW of datacenter load offline in one event, dumping it to diesel backup and spiking PJM voltage. Texas already tightened its rules: the PUCT-approved ride-through mandate takes effect August 1, requiring new large loads and crypto miners to stay connected through disturbances, while NERC's May Level 3 alert points toward similar standards pending FERC approval that may take years. The Data Center Coalition opposed ERCOT's rules on authority grounds, with EVP Aaron Tinjum arguing the technical assumptions may not match real equipment.

Projects energizing before August 1 dodge the mandate; new filers should price ride-through capability as an early equipment and site-selection input, not an energization-day retrofit.

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Politics

ERCOT and PUCT Ask Abbott for Statutory Muscle Over Data Centers

PUCT Chairman Thomas Gleeson told Governor Greg Abbott in a letter this month that the agencies want authority they don't currently have: direct emergency communication with data centers, mandatory state registration, and extension of the Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act to the facilities themselves. Right now ERCOT can't call a data center directly during grid stress; it routes through the facility's utility. University of Texas researcher Joshua Rhodes flagged the unresolved core: who pays for the new transmission and distribution these loads require.

With public opinion turning against data centers heading into the next session, cost-allocation and grid-priority bills will likely file early. Developers who engage PUCT and ERCOT during this pre-legislative window have better odds of shaping the statute than those waiting for the bill text.

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Policy

Texas Lawmakers Reopen the 2013 Sales-Tax Exemption

The Texas Senate Finance Committee now projects the data center sales-tax exemption will cost roughly $3.3B in the 2028-29 biennium, against a 2013 estimate of $14.6M for a single budget cycle. Chair Joan Huffman said "no tax exemption should operate on autopilot," while Senator Lois Kolkhorst pressed on verification: of 20 projects that entered audit, six were noncompliant or withdrew. Comptroller estimator Brad Reynolds conceded some facilities struggle to hit the 20-permanent-jobs threshold.

West Texas is already feeling the politics: Democratic SD-28 candidate Riley Rodriguez is running against incumbent Senator Charles Perry on Stargate-driven housing displacement in Abilene, and Perry himself warns the industry risks "the wrong end of the politics" without addressing water and power. Developers relying on the exemption should expect tightened eligibility verification and job-creation tracking next session; those who sequence workforce housing and front-load local coordination defuse the campaign surrogate before it forms.

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Water

Austin Prices Water Scarcity Into the Development Decision

Austin's City Council approved a large-volume water framework July 23 requiring conservation plans, reclaimed water ("purple pipe") commitments, and full-cost rates, with council veto power over projects that fall short. The context is real: Samsung's Northeast facility alone used 2.23 billion gallons, and statewide Texas datacenters consumed an estimated 25 billion gallons last year, with demand potentially reaching 29 to 161 billion gallons by 2030. North Texas developers are already ahead of this, with QTS running closed-loop cooling below five households' monthly use and CyrusOne going fully air-cooled while returning 20 percent of drawn water since 2020.

Final Austin policies land before year-end, and a Fort Worth Report panel convenes August 20. Developers who bring closed-loop specs and reclaimed-water commitments to those rooms negotiate easier permits; those betting on power and cost advantages while ignoring water hit regulatory friction once compliance replaces consultation.

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Capital

Ten Gigawatts of Idle EV Capacity Waits on PUCT Rulemaking

A podcast discussion flagged that roughly 10 GW of export capacity sits idle in ERCOT, parked in EVs that charge for 2 to 3 hours but stay plugged in 12 to 14. ChargeScape CEO Joseph Vellone argues the hardware is arriving on its own; what's missing is grid-integration policy, since ERCOT's split of wires, retail, and generation means overnight charging rebates and utility incentives don't stack. The PUCT is weighing where to draw the grid-parallel-versus-export line in Project No. 54233, covering distributed-energy interconnection under 16 TAC 25.210, 25.211, and 25.212.

With 300,000 EVs forecast to come off lease to price-sensitive buyers in 2026, the resource only materializes if interconnection rules clarify and incentives coordinate. For developers with generation or storage assets, that PUCT resolution determines whether a decade of idle capacity becomes a grid resource or stays in the driveway.

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Sources we cited

15 articles across 13 publishers · 348 reviewed today

[1]Datacenter Knowledge
Core Scientific Doubles AI Capacity to 1.1 GW in $14B AMD Deal
Jul 28, 2026·A 15-year agreement adds 530 MW across five campuses, doubling the company’s AI footprint and securing long-term revenue. Core Scientific h…
[2]Tech Times
AMD Secures AI Data Center Capacity From Core Scientific in $14B Power Play
Jul 28, 2026·Advanced Micro Devices announced Tuesday that it has secured more than 529 megawatts of U.S. artificial intelligence data center capacity fr…
[3]Datacenter Knowledge
Nebraska Reins in Data Center Perks Amid Resource Scrutiny
Jul 29, 2026·The incentives era is giving way to infrastructure realities. Nebraska’s action highlights how power access and resource impacts now drive w…
[4]Americans for Tax Reform
New York Data Center Moratorium Will Hurt Economy, Jobs, Innovation, & Risk Higher Electricity Prices
Jul 28, 2026·New York’s government seems keen on destroying the state’s business community. On July 14th, New York Governor Kathy Hochul issued an execut…
[5]Oregon Capital Chronicle
Pro-data center industry group behind ad campaign in Oregon, six other states
Jul 28, 2026·Oregon Connects is one of several new nonprofits registered by the Data Center Coalition, an industry group backed by major tech companies …
[6]WYMT
Kentucky utilities sign White House ‘Ratepayer Protection Pledge’ amid AI data center energy concerns
Jul 27, 2026·LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Multiple Kentucky utility companies signed a White House-backed “Ratepayer Protection Pledge” on Thursday as Preside…
[7]Datacenter Knowledge
Galaxy’s 500-Acre Texas AI Campus Reflects New Grid Model
Jul 28, 2026·The McGregor project pairs a 74 MW first phase with a privately funded substation and utility financial assurances, reflecting changing expe…
[8]TradingView
Galaxy Expands Data Center Footprint with Acquisition of 500 Acre Campus in McGregor, Texas
Jul 28, 2026·Galaxy's second data center campus in Texas will grow the Company's footprint, with the execution of a services agreement with the utility f…
[9]Latitude Media
As more data center trip off the grid, ‘ride-through’ rules gain steam
Jul 28, 2026·A 3-GW load drop in Virginia highlighted the cascading blackout risks of AI data centers disconnecting during grid faults. The post As more …
[10]Texas Tribune
Energy agencies want more authority over Texas data centers
Jul 29, 2026·Texas’ power grid operators are calling for state lawmakers to expand their authority to regulate data centers, following a recent directive…
[11]Texas Public Radio
Texas lawmakers question billions in tax breaks for data centers
Jul 28, 2026·Sign up for TPR Today, Texas Public Radio's newsletter that brings our top stories to your inbox each morning. Texas has become one of the …
[12]Texas Standard
Data center worries drive campaign through West Texas as Democrats stump for the rural vote
Jul 28, 2026·Several Democratic candidates for local, state and federal offices kicked off their West Texas campaign trail in Lubbock on Saturday with a …
[13]Community Impact
Austin leaders eye water conservation measures for major projects as data center growth raises resource concerns
Jul 29, 2026·Austin leaders are seeking to mandate long-range water use and conservation plans from facilities that use large amounts of water. They're a…
[14]KERA News
Data centers require substantial water, energy. Sustainable practices, technology can lessen impact
Jul 28, 2026·As interest in data centers continues to crop up in North Texas, so does concern among residents who are trying to understand just how much …
[15]Texas Energy and Power Newsletter
Ten gigawatts are parked in American driveways
Jul 29, 2026·Joseph Vellone talks about the barrier to using parked EVs as grid capacity as a flaw in incentives, rather than hardware, and why the barri…

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