Texas

ERCOT large-load interconnection pause

Grid-interconnection pause

In effect

Scope

ERCOT market notice M-A080326-01 says ERCOT will not classify large loads in the Batch Zero interconnection study by 7 August 2026 and will seek a good-cause exception from the Public Utility Commission. ERCOT's 20 August 2026 presentation says ERCOT paused approvals to energize data centers and virtual-currency mining facilities of 75 MW or greater. That presentation says the pause does not stop energization approvals for non-data-center large loads and does not apply to medium loads. The 14 September 2026 board update says the energization pause for new large-load data centers and virtual-currency mining facilities continues until the verification audit and community-impact review are complete. None of these documents orders existing operating facilities to shut down.

Dates

Effective
3 August 2026
Scheduled expiration
None scheduled
Completion condition
ERCOT's September 2026 board update says energization of the described large-load data centers and virtual-currency mining facilities stays paused until the verification audit and community-impact review are complete. A 10 December 2026 filing goal for two reports is not a scheduled expiration.
Source document
3 August 2026
Last checked
22 September 2026
Issuing authority
Electric Reliability Council of Texas

Summary

On 3 August 2026, ERCOT said it would not issue Batch Zero large-load classifications by 7 August 2026 after receiving the governor's letter, and that it would ask the Public Utility Commission for a good-cause exception. ERCOT's 21 August 2026 notice says the commission granted those timeline exceptions on 20 August 2026. ERCOT's 20 August 2026 presentation says energization approvals are paused for data centers and virtual-currency mining facilities of 75 MW or greater until Batch Zero eligibility verification is complete. Its 14 September 2026 board update says that energization pause continues until the verification and audit and the community-impact review are complete. The 3 August notice alone does not state that energization pause. This is a grid-interconnection pause for the projects ERCOT describes. It is not a permanent ban on existing facilities.

What this does not establish

  • The 3 August 2026 market notice delays Batch Zero classification of large loads. It does not itself say that energization approvals are paused. The 20 August 2026 presentation describes that pause until eligibility verification is complete. The 14 September 2026 board update says the pause continues until the verification audit and the community-impact review are complete.
  • 10 December 2026 is the date ERCOT gave for filing an eligibility-verification report and a community-impact review. It is not stored as a legal expiration.
  • ERCOT's presentation says non-data-center large loads may still receive energization approval and that medium loads are outside the Batch Zero energization pause.
  • The Public Utility Commission order granting the good-cause exceptions was not opened in this review. ERCOT's 21 August 2026 notice is the source for the statement that the order was issued on 20 August 2026.
  • This implementation record does not replace the 3 August governor's letter.

Unresolved questions

  • The commission order's exact text, including any conditions beyond the three timeline exceptions described by ERCOT, was not read.
  • ERCOT's 20 August 2026 presentation says 17 large loads had finished other ERCOT processes but had not received energization approval. This record does not identify those projects or say whether they already hold construction permits.
  • How ERCOT applies the pause outside the 75 MW data-center and virtual-currency category, including projects that would serve themselves with off-site or behind-the-meter generation, is not settled by the 3 August notice.

Relationships

Supersession means a later instrument replaces the earlier legal effect. A later implementation or a related letter is not treated as a replacement unless the record says so.

Sources

Primary source

https://www.ercot.com/services/comm/mkt_notices/M-A080326-01

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