Texas has attracted a large number of data centers due to its abundant renewable energy and natural gas resources, as well as a favorable business environment. This has also led to an increase in winter electricity demand and heightened the risk of power supply shortages.
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) highlighted in its “2025-2026 Winter Reliability Assessment” report released on November 18th that under extreme cold conditions or prolonged periods of cold, the Texas grid operator (ERCOT) could face the risk of power outages similar to those during the “Uri” storm in 2021.
The power outages during the “Uri” storm were described as the “largest artificially imposed load shedding event in U.S. history,” leaving 4.5 million people without power for days and resulting in at least 210 deaths. Severe cold weather led to a surge in home heating demand, while many power plants were unable to operate normally due to the weather conditions.
According to the report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), ERCOT ordered the implementation of 20 gigawatts of rotating outages to prevent the collapse of the grid system. FERC stated that most fatalities were related to the outages, including deaths due to hypothermia, carbon monoxide poisoning, and illnesses exacerbated by the cold.
CNBC reported on November 22nd that Texas has received numerous interconnection requests from data centers, cryptocurrency mining facilities, and industrial users in recent years. For instance, OpenAI is constructing its flagship Stargate campus in Abilene, located about 150 miles west of Dallas-Fort Worth, which may require up to 1.2 gigawatts of power, equivalent to the output of a large nuclear power plant.
Data released by ERCOT on November 19th showed that there have been over 220 gigawatts of planned interconnection requests as of this month, a 170% increase compared to the 83 gigawatts requested in January. Approximately 73% of the projects applying for interconnection are data centers.
John Moura, Director of Reliability Assessment at NERC, emphasized the significant impact of data center demand on the power industry, stating, “It’s a huge shift for the power industry.” He noted that one solution is for data centers to demonstrate flexibility in electricity usage to help maintain supply-demand balance during extreme winter conditions.
Moura emphasized the importance of understanding the current tight power supply situation. Following the “Uri” storm, Texas has implemented regulations to strengthen its natural gas infrastructure to cope with extreme winters. NERC pointed out that when natural gas power plants undergo widespread shutdowns, solar and battery storage systems also face challenges.
NERC indicated in its report that since data centers operate around the clock, maintaining sufficient battery capacity becomes increasingly difficult under prolonged high-load conditions, such as multi-day severe storms like the winter storm “Uri.”
According to Tech Crunch, NERC forecasts that no grid issues would occur in any region this winter if no significant storms occur. NERC also stated that in the past five years, there have been four severe storms that may force grid operators to transport power externally, request large users to reduce electricity consumption, or implement rotating outages as a last resort.