Et tu, Greg Abbott?
Tuesday, Jun 23, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller
* March, 2022…
Meta, formerly the Facebook company, announced today that it will invest $800 million in the creation of a Hyperscale Data Center in Temple, Texas. The new facility, which will total approximately 900,000 square feet when completed, will be located on 393 acres off NW H K Dodgen Loop and Industrial Blvd., and will support approximately 100 operational jobs in the community. The project is expected to employ 1,250 construction workers onsite during peak construction, which will begin in Spring 2022. […]
“Meta’s continued expansion in Texas is a testament to the exceptional business climate and skilled, diverse workforce we have here in the Lone Star State,” said Texas Governor Greg Abbott. “It is because of hardworking Texans and our commitment to helping businesses grow that companies continue to move and expand all across Texas. We are excited to welcome Meta to Temple and look forward to the new job opportunities they will bring to the local community, as well as the advancements in technology we will see in the future.”
* March, 2023…
As Gov. Greg Abbott signals stronger support for the creation of a new program to replace a multibillion dollar corporate tax break program that expired last year, he’s also drawing a clear line in the sand: wind and solar energy projects need not apply.
“I support [the program] not providing economic incentives for renewables,” Abbott said during a news conference in Austin. “There’s already federal incentives for renewable projects, and those will continue to be allowed. As it concerns especially energy and power and the power grid, our focus is on dispatchable power,” such as natural gas or coal. […]
Renewable energy has proliferated in Texas: The number of wind turbines has grown significantly over the past decade, and the number of solar farms is rising, too. Texas produces more wind energy than any other state. It rivals California for solar. Both types of power don’t pollute the air and are cheap, generally beating out sources such as natural gas to sell the electricity they produce.
* January, 2025…
* September, 2025…
Abbott opens arms to data centers, teases big AI investment
Governor said project in works to eclipse Oracle, Open AI’s $400 billion investment in “Project Stargate”
* June, 2026…
Late last year, Texas electricity officials faced an astonishing rush of requests from data center developers wanting to connect to the state’s grid. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the grid operator, was logging dozens of new requests each quarter from companies that sought to pull more electricity than traditional data centers did — by a long shot. […]
The proposals kept coming. ERCOT in the last two years received 519 requests to connect large electricity users, compared to 24 such requests the year before that, according to its records as of May. The estimated electricity that large projects could need added up to a gobsmacking 438,595 megawatts — which would equal roughly a third of all the power generation in America.
* Today…
- Tracy D - Tuesday, Jun 23, 26 @ 2:04 pm:
Illinois is # 1 in nuclear power generation and capacity and Texas will try to pass us. Wind & solar are good but they are not enough to power the large data centers.
- TNR - Tuesday, Jun 23, 26 @ 2:31 pm:
Actually, Texas going big on data centers could have an unforeseen impact on Illinois. Texas (unlike Illinois) will allow new construction of natural gas plants to power the data centers. But due to high demand and broken supply chains, it takes about 5 years to get a new turbine ordered and built. So if Texas goes too big, too quickly they won’t be able to meet all that demand. Something they might do to avoid power shortages: buy up the Illinois gas plants facing CEJA-required closures, yank out the turbines, and ship them to Texas. This has already happened to the Elwood plant in Will County. It could become routine.
- Moneybuys - Tuesday, Jun 23, 26 @ 2:33 pm:
Red state or blue state, data center issue resonates.
- Friendly Bob Adams - Tuesday, Jun 23, 26 @ 2:54 pm:
They can make their own power but they can’t make their own water. The more they take, the less is available for everyone else.
- Ares - Tuesday, Jun 23, 26 @ 2:57 pm:
It seems that data centers (with their massive water demand) will drain TX’s already strained water supply. Let the Texans migrate to the Great Lakes when the water runs dry and the ERCOT grid falters.
- cover - Tuesday, Jun 23, 26 @ 3:01 pm:
438.6 gigawatts would power up a lot of DeLoreans
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jun 23, 26 @ 3:03 pm:
===Wind & solar are good but they are not enough to power===
Fact not in evidence.
- DEE - Tuesday, Jun 23, 26 @ 3:08 pm:
Texas has a long stretch of ocean coast. They could use salt water to cool where we do not have that option.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jun 23, 26 @ 3:10 pm:
=== They could use salt water to cool ===
lol
Do you know what salt water does to pipes, etc.?
- Jocko - Tuesday, Jun 23, 26 @ 3:28 pm:
==The estimated electricity that large projects could need added up to a gobsmacking 438,595 megawatts==
It’s a good thing the Texas Interconnection is well maintained to handle the demands of winter and summer. /S
- Give Us Barabbas - Tuesday, Jun 23, 26 @ 3:30 pm:
When the Texas power grid fails this winter the people can use data centers for warming centers.
Gas makes sense for Texas because they sit right on top of it. But they also get plenty wind and sun. The only reason Abbott is not supporting renewables is to placate and pander to the orange man.
- DEE - Tuesday, Jun 23, 26 @ 3:35 pm:
https://www.facebook.com/engineeringexploration/videos/china-is-taking-data-center-cooling-to-a-whole-new-depth-underwater-ai-server-st/2275342779963765/
- Benniefly2 - Tuesday, Jun 23, 26 @ 3:46 pm:
Texas was the perfect place for all of these data centers. Texas famously isn’t connected to the rest of the US power grid, so they can’t burden neighboring states with excessive electricity costs when they give incentives to build these things within the state.
- Think Again - Tuesday, Jun 23, 26 @ 4:15 pm:
= it takes about 5 years to get a new turbine ordered and built=
That’s true for combined cycle gas turbines - steam turbine matched with steam boiler generation has a much quicker turnaround- easier supply chain - Babcock and Wilcox have the tech.
- ChicagoVinny - Tuesday, Jun 23, 26 @ 4:43 pm:
Most of these announced data center projects will not be built. Even before the AI bubble, the tech companies were running into roadblocks building data centers. To counter they over plan capacity assuming that most of these data center projects will fail.
This is a fascinating in depth talk about where this has been and where it is all going. It can get a little technical
https://youtu.be/uWnUnMphmPM
- Candy Dogood - Tuesday, Jun 23, 26 @ 4:53 pm:
===Texas has a long stretch of ocean coast. They could use salt water to cool where we do not have that option. ===
You know there are people that live in Arizona that believe solution to their water problems would be to simply pipe water from Lake Michigan? They’ve been talking about this like it is a serious option for decades.
Don’t be like those people.
- JS Mill - Wednesday, Jun 24, 26 @ 10:32 am:
=How quickly and drastically Abbott has changed his tune here tells you he’s burnt his hand on the stove top with this issue.=
The whiplash of contradiction from the gop has hit lightspeed. I mean, all politicians flip flop, but some of the current gop leaders do it in the same interview.
@Give Us Barabbas +1