Texas governor Greg Abbott's pause on new data center grid interconnection has put 20 percent of the US’ data center pipeline at risk of delay.

According to research from Bloomberg NEF, the pause, enacted by Abbott earlier this month, could delay the vast number of data center projects in the state waiting for a grid connection.

The Texas governor this month directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to undertake a comprehensive audit of all data center projects currently advancing through ERCOT’s interconnection process.

ERCOT currently has more than 470GW of interconnection requests in its queue, of which approximately 90 percent are tied to data center load. BNEF said that it expects that about 8.25 GW of additional data center capacity will come online in ERCOT through 2030.

The financial impact of Governor Abbott's audit, which would impact almost 49.8GW of projects seeking a grid connection, could be upwards of $8 billion by the first quarter of 2027. Should the pause extend further, the risk would become more extreme.

The impact is already being felt, with Bloomberg reporting that power demand is expected to rise by only 6 percent next year, down significantly from a July projection of 14 percent.

As part of the audit, the PUCT and ERCOT have been instructed to gather information detailing the extent to which data centers are paying their own way or, depending on the state, the extent to which they are providing their own power or relying on the grid, the extent to which they are bringing their own water supplies and/or reusing water rather than relying on local communities, whether they are using measures to reduce impacts on neighboring property owners and communities, and finally information detailing the ownership and controlling interests in the project.

The directive closely follows the approval of a new connection process proposed by ERCOT in June. Under the new framework, projects will enter a batch, with ERCOT studying the eligible projects to determine grid needs and capacity. Subsequently, transmission capacity will be allocated based on what the grid can support, with ERCOT then developing and publishing a transmission plan identifying necessary upgrades.

The move is part of a broader push by state legislators to temper the growth of the sector, due to fears of reliability, rising utility costs, and environmental impacts. Last month, New York became the first US state to impose a moratorium on new data center builds.

While New York is the first to enforce a statewide moratorium, several other US states have seen similar legislation proposed. In Maine, a bill passed both houses that would have imposed an 18-month moratorium, but it was ultimately vetoed by the governor.

Although moratoriums have long been used at the local level, officials in Minnesota, Virginia, New Hampshire, Vermont, Oklahoma, Maryland, Georgia, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and Michigan have also introduced bills calling for statewide bans on new developments.

A bill proposing a national moratorium was also introduced by US Senators Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in March 2026.

Dubbed the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act, it would prevent data center construction until the government enacts laws to protect workers and consumers, the environment, and civil rights from the impacts of AI.