AI Data Centers May Destroy the Texas Power Grid

The emergence of artificial intelligence technology and its implications has raised profound questions pertaining to the future of labor, national security, and the information landscape. AI’s ultimate impact on these fronts remains unclear, and predictions vary widely – but one of the few certainties surrounding the future of AI is the impact it will have on the U.S. power grid. 

A race to develop AI technology is currently underway between companies and between nations, and across the country, tech giants are pouring billions of dollars into new AI data centers. According to a recent report from the American Edge Project, an industry advocacy group, nearly 2,800 new data centers are currently in the planning or construction phase nationwide. 

AI data centers are energy-intensive operations, and according to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the AI boom will be the primary catalyst for energy demand growth over the next 10 years. In Texas, a state that has emerged an epicenter of data center construction, tech-driven energy demand is expected to place undue strain on the power grid.

It is no coincidence that the number of AI data centers in the state is projected to more than double in the coming years, from 405 to nearly 850. According to Blackridge Research & Consulting, new data centers include a planned 600 MW facility for OpenAI in Abilene, Texas and a 1,400 MW facility for Vantage Data Centers in Shackelford County, Texas. A recent NERC report shows that Texas will be at high-risk of electric blackouts by the year 2029, as across the region, energy demand from data centers alone is projected to increase by over 240% between 2027 and 2030, from 6,700 MW to 23,000 MW. 

The anticipated energy-demand surge in Texas is expected to expose meaningful weaknesses in a power grid that has already proved vulnerable to strain under extreme circumstances. In 2021, a severe winter storm precipitated widespread blackouts in the state, contributing to more than 200 reported fatalities. 

Using data compiled by Business Insider, Climate Crisis 247 identified the places in Texas where new data centers will consume the most energy. We reviewed estimated power usage for 59 data centers in the state that have been built or approved for construction as of the end of 2024. We ranked the 10 Texas counties where data centers will collectively have the highest maximum annual power use estimates. Supplemental data for each data center’s location and corporate affiliation are also from BI. 

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average household in the United States consumes approximately 10,500 kilowatthours of electricity annually. Based on these estimates, the data centers on this list collectively use enough energy to power as many as 242,400 households on a yearly basis. The companies behind these data centers include many familiar tech-industry giants like Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft. 

10. Medina County, Texas

• Est. data center power-use in county: 42,950 – 68,720 MWh per year
• Approx. data center electricity use equivalent: Enough to power 6,545 households per year
• Number of known existing or planned data centers in county: 1
• Companies with known existing or planned data centers in county include: Microsoft

9. Denton County, Texas

• Est. data center power-use in county: 48,780 – 78,047 MWh per year
• Approx. data center electricity use equivalent: Enough to power 7,433 households per year
• Number of known existing or planned data centers in county: 4
• Companies with known existing or planned data centers in county include: CyrusOne, QTS, Citigroup

8. Williamson County, Texas

• Est. data center power-use in county: 52,275 – 83,640 MWh per year
• Approx. data center electricity use equivalent: Enough to power 7,966 households per year
• Number of known existing or planned data centers in county: 2
• Companies with known existing or planned data centers in county include: Skybox, Sabey Data Centers

7. Travis County, Texas

• Est. data center power-use in county: 58,674 – 93,877 MWh per year
• Approx. data center electricity use equivalent: Enough to power 8,941 households per year
• Number of known existing or planned data centers in county: 5
• Companies with known existing or planned data centers in county include: Skybox, CyrusOne, DXC Technology, Serverfarm

6. Collin County, Texas

• Est. data center power-use in county: 60,263 – 96,418 MWh per year
• Approx. data center electricity use equivalent: Enough to power 9,183 households per year
• Number of known existing or planned data centers in county: 7
• Companies with known existing or planned data centers in county include: Aligned Data Centers, CyrusOne, Stack Infrastructure, CoreWeave

5. Harris County, Texas

• Est. data center power-use in county: 112,625 – 180,197 MWh per year
• Approx. data center electricity use equivalent: Enough to power 17,162 households per year
• Number of known existing or planned data centers in county: 6
• Companies with known existing or planned data centers in county include: CyrusOne, Serverfarm, Digital Realty, DataBank

4. Dallas County, Texas

• Est. data center power-use in county: 185,656 – 297,046 MWh per year
• Approx. data center electricity use equivalent: Enough to power 28,290 households per year
• Number of known existing or planned data centers in county: 7
• Companies with known existing or planned data centers in county include: QTS, NTT, Equinix, Stream Data Centers, Amazon

3. Tarrant County, Texas

• Est. data center power-use in county: 238,990 – 382,385 MWh per year
• Approx. data center electricity use equivalent: Enough to power 36,418 households per year
• Number of known existing or planned data centers in county: 2
• Companies with known existing or planned data centers in county include: Meta

2. Ellis County, Texas

• Est. data center power-use in county: 388,525 – 621,640 MWh per year
• Approx. data center electricity use equivalent: Enough to power 59,204 households per year
• Number of known existing or planned data centers in county: 3
• Companies with known existing or planned data centers in county include: Compass Datacenters, Google

1. Bexar County, Texas

• Est. data center power-use in county: 401,907 – 643,049 MWh per year
• Approx. data center electricity use equivalent: Enough to power 61,243 households per year
• Number of known existing or planned data centers in county: 17
• Companies with known existing or planned data centers in county include: Microsoft, Vantage Data Centers, QTS, CyrusOne, Amazon