ERCOT set out the scope of the verification sweep ordered by Governor Greg Abbott on 14 August: between 250 and 300 interconnection projects, roughly 90% of them data centers, representing about 200 GW of future demand.
The comparison that makes the number legible
200 GW is more than double the all-time peak demand record ERCOT set in July 2026. The grid is being asked to plan for future load more than twice as large as anything it has ever actually served, from projects that in most cases do not exist yet.
How the queue got here
The audited projects sit inside ERCOT's Batch Zero study, which covers more than 1,800 projects totalling over 474 GW. General counsel Chad Seely said the review moves existing verification checks "to the front of the line" rather than adding a new gate. Interconnection queues fill with speculative requests because filing one is cheap and holding a position is valuable; the sweep is an attempt to find out how much of the 200 GW has a company behind it.
What developers must now disclose
Under Abbott's directive: tax breaks received, power use and on-site generation, water consumption and cooling method, community impact mitigation, and facility ownership. The tax-break and ownership items are the notable additions — they make it possible to see who is behind a project and what the public is already paying for it.
What this is not
Not a moratorium. The 200 GW is requested load — not contracted, not financed, not under construction — and that oversubscription is precisely what the audit exists to measure, so reading the figure as pending construction inverts the point. The Texas Tribune's companion reporting notes the audit still lacks specifics and that analysts doubt it will slow expansion. Abbott's order itself dates to 3 August; what is new is ERCOT disclosing scope and timeline.
The clock
ERCOT says the audit will take several months, targeting the original Batch Zero deadline of April. Until it reports, every Texas grid forecast rests on a queue nobody has verified.