CenterPoint Energy has reported a 700 percent increase in data center developers' requests to connect to the Houston area utility.
Requests topped out at 8GW, rising 7GW from before the summer months when the requests totaled 1GW.
During the company’s quarterly earnings call this week, CenterPoint CEO Jason Wells said: “Over the summer, we have seen a fundamental shift in data center development.”
As a result, CenterPoint now forecasts that peak demand on its Houston utility could jump another 30 percent by 2030, from this year's high of 22GW.
To meet the demand, CenterPoint plans to invest $3.7 billion in its networks this year and another $4.9 billion in 2025.
This new capacity translates to approximately 120 projects for the utility’s Housten team, necessitating significant investments across the state's transmission infrastructure.
Wells is confident that this can be achieved, stating: “Our interconnection timelines compare very favorably in a state that can move quickly with large infrastructure investments. I think that’s why we’ve seen it dramatically change this summer.”
CenterPoint officials plan to move forward with filings related to the securitization of the costs from the May storms in the next few weeks.
There are significant concerns within Texas and across the country that utilities will be unable to cope with the soaring demand.
Texas Public Utility Commission has asserted that data center developers must supply some of their own power if they want to connect to the Texas grid within 12 to 15 months.
These concerns are part of the broader issue of rising data center power consumption levels across the US, with the US data center market set to reach 35GW by the end of the decade.
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