Texas is rapidly emerging as a hub for artificial intelligence-driven energy demand, with an unprecedented surge in heavy-duty power demands that are now being dominated by AI data centers rather than Bitcoin miners.
Figures highlighted in The Miner Mag's latest newsletter and cited from ERCOT's new system plan and weatherization update show the grid is facing a fundamentally different kind of growth.
ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates Texas' independent power grid and oversees reliable power service to about 90% of Texans, reported that its heavy-load interconnection queue has ballooned to 226 gigawatts of new requests, about 73% of which are tied to AI equipment.
Developers have already submitted 225 large-load requests this year, and on the supply side, ERCOT is considering 1,999 generation proposals totaling 432GW, according to The Miner Mag.
However, load is increasing faster than supply. Although the generation queue is large, it is still dominated by solar and battery projects, and these resources cannot provide the 24-hour power needed for AI data centers. This mismatch creates future reliability and investment challenges.
sauce: ben bajarin
State regulators are rushing to adapt, Miner Mag reported. ERCOT is more than doubling the number of transmission projects under review as new rules are developed to classify customers requesting 75 MW or more as “special treatment” cases.
Related: Bitcoin miners bet on AI last year and it paid off
What about Bitcoin miners?
Miner Mag's report contrasts today's AI-driven power demand surge with the previous boom driven by Bitcoin (BTC) miners, noting that Texas' new power demand crunch is now being driven by AI, not cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin miners were once among the state's largest new power users. The impact was definitely positive. Miners frequently curtailed operations during periods of peak demand, which helped shore up grid stability and save states an estimated $18 billion, according to a January study by the Digital Asset Institute.
sauce: Pierre Roshard
But the landscape is changing. Many miners and digital asset managers are reallocating their infrastructure to AI computing to take advantage of the burgeoning demand for GPU capacity.
A recent example is Mike Novogratz's Galaxy, which secured $460 million to convert a former Bitcoin mine in Texas into a massive AI data center.
Related: Bitcoin miners enter the “toughest margin environment in history”
