The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), a Regional Transmission Operator (RTO), has reported that power demand across its footprint could rise from 98GW in 2026 to more than 111GW by 2032, driven predominantly by the data center buildout.

The RTO said that much of the projected demand is likely to emanate from non-crypto data centers, followed by cryptocurrency mining, industrial customers, and oil and gas operations.

Due to the significant increase in demand, peak demand is projected to reach 367GW by 2032, more than triple current levels.

According to the RTO, the projects reflect factors such as economic growth, electric vehicle adoption, rooftop solar installations, and existing large loads. In a statement, ERCOT said that the growth in data center load reflects "continued growth and interest in Texas and the ERCOT grid."

Despite the projection, the RTO tempered expectations, stating that it “has concerns with using the preliminary load forecast values for the Reliability Assessment and any other transmission and resource adequacy analysis,” Chad Seely, ERCOT senior vice president of regulatory policy, general counsel, and chief compliance officer, said. “ERCOT would prefer to consult with Commission Staff to evaluate whether it is appropriate to seek adjustment of the forecast.”

Texas is becoming a hotbed of data center development, thanks to its ample land and energy resources. Recent developments include a 1.4GW data center campus in Shackelford County, being developed by Vantage, for which the company has recently broken ground.

Other notable developments include Crusoe’s 200MW+ Abilene data center campus, QTS’s planned data center campus in Dallas, and Microsoft's latest data center development in San Antonio. To meet the demand, ERCOT announced the creation of a fast-track revised large-load interconnection process to expedite the connection process for data centers.

MISO also sees surge

The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), the RTO that covers a 15-state region across the Midwest and South of the US, also projected a significant growth in its peak load. In its latest long-term forecast, the RTO said it expects that its peak load will grow from 121GW in 2025 to 163GW in 2035, a 35 percent spike.

MISO said that it expects 8GW to 14GW of data centers to come online in 2026–2027. In its current trajectory, the RTO said that by 2030, data centers would make up a fifth of its electricity demand, potentially growing to a quarter by 2040.

The majority of the growth is expected in the RTO’s central region, including states such as Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois.

Despite the high projections, the RTO said that there was still uncertainty about whether all of the demand would come to bear. In a statement, MISO said that: “rapidly rising announcements and project submissions widen uncertainty around both data center volume and realization timelines, although signs of ‘right-sizing’ are appearing.”