Batch Zero classifications come to light
Five companies published their own conditional ERCOT Batch Zero classifications this week, from IREN's 2,000 MW at Sweetwater to the 1,402 MW Core Scientific split across four different ERCOT categories, while ERCOT published no applicant list of its own and the EIA cut its 2027 regional electricity forecast by 4.7 percent.
The Batch Zero classifications arrived this week, and every one of them came from the company that received it. IREN said on September 8 that its 2,000 MW Sweetwater Hub was included as base load. Galaxy Digital said the same day that five Texas requests covering about 4.2 GW gross had been classified. CleanSpark disclosed 585 MW conditionally designated Base Load and a separate 300 MW as Studied Load. Core Scientific's 8-K on September 10 covers 1,402 MW across Denton, Pecos and Hunt County. Ionic Digital said ERCOT provisionally classified the remaining 466 MW at its Ward County campus as Base Load.
ERCOT has published no applicant names, locations or capacity figures from its first Batch Zero screening, so each company's own release is the only public account of where its request landed. Galaxy published no location for Caspian, 700 MW, or Selene, 900 MW. CleanSpark gave no breakdown by project.
Base load and studied load are not the same answer. Studied load still has to pass through the Batch Zero system study and capacity allocation. Every classification announced this week is conditional, subject to the audit Abbott ordered on August 3, and ERCOT began issuing verification requests the day before Core Scientific filed.
Locally the answer kept going the other way. White Rose Partners withdrew Project Tomahawk in Prosper on September 8, hours before the council took it up. Pacifico Energy pulled its Bastrop County abatement requests and kept the land. Hays County froze abatements for high-water projects, and Lubbock's council passed a non-binding resolution. The EIA cut its 2027 West South Central sales forecast by 4.7 percent and said the revision reflects the pause.
Core Scientific's filing is the week's best argument that one megawatt figure can be four different things.
IREN got the cleanest answer of the week and it is still conditional.
Galaxy's 4.2 GW came back split. The company said on September 8 that five Texas projects received Batch Zero classifications covering about 4.2 GW gross.
CleanSpark disclosed 885 MW of conditional classifications and no way to map them to sites.
Ionic's classification is provisional, and it comes from Ionic.
The 75 MW line picked up a second duty.
The forecast moved, and the agency said why.
Prosper's answer came from the developer, not the council.
Hood County is going back to a project it has already approved without conditions.
Lubbock passed something that stops nothing.
Hays County used the lever it has.
Pacifico removed the one point at which Bastrop County would have seen its numbers.
A 477 MW gas plant goes to a city council this month, and nobody has published the load it would serve.
The Cedar Creek land position has a new number, and Amazon has not confirmed its share of it.
The water and air argument reached the state environmental agency.
The largest power figure attached to Texas AI load this week is not a deal yet.
Enphase started building in Arlington and has no Texas customer to name.
The Socorro factory is the supply chain, not the campus.
McAllen picked up a cross-border interconnection claim.
Sep 10Wiwynn puts more than $1.6B into its Socorro server rack plant for Amazon, adding nearly 1,000 jobs ↗Wiwynn
Sep 9A property tracker puts the Cedar Creek cluster at about 5,500 acres across three developers ↗Score Property Group
Sep 9Project Mustang, 665 acres east of Taylor with 477 MW of on-site gas, goes to the city council this month ↗City of Taylor
Sep 8Enphase starts building 4 kW solid state transformer modules in Arlington for AI data center racks ↗Enphase Energy
Sep 8Uniti Wholesale adds network presence at a McAllen data center carrying US-Mexico traffic ↗Uniti Wholesale Boosts U.S.-Mexico and Southwest Data Center
Sep 9EIA cuts its 2027 West South Central electricity sales forecast to 790 billion kWh, down 4.7% ↗U.S. Energy Information Administration
Sep 10The Environmental Defense Fund asks Texas to publish data center water draw and backup generator emissions ↗Environmental Defense Fund
Sep 7South Korea says the $22.3B Texas power deal aimed at AI load is not final ↗WBAP
Sep 10Core Scientific's 8-K splits 1,402 MW of Texas load into four different ERCOT states ↗Core Scientific, Inc.
Sep 10ERCOT moves on NOGRR 282, which makes large loads above 75 MW hold their connection through grid disturbances ↗Balch & Bingham LLP
Sep 10ERCOT provisionally classifies the remaining 466 MW at Ionic's Ward County campus as Base Load ↗Ionic Digital Receives Base Load Provisional Classification
Sep 9Hays County freezes abatements and discretionary permits for high-water projects through December 31 ↗Score Property Group
Sep 8CleanSpark says 585 MW of contracted Texas capacity drew conditional Base Load status, and 300 MW drew Studied Load ↗CleanSpark, Inc.
Sep 8A regulatory review dates the ERCOT large load audit report to December 10 and the first studies to April 2027 ↗Global Data Center Hub
Sep 8Galaxy says five Texas load requests hold conditional ERCOT Batch Zero classifications, about 4.2 GW ↗PR Newswire
Sep 8IREN's Sweetwater Hub wins conditional base load status in ERCOT's Batch Zero ↗IREN
Sep 8White Rose Partners withdraws Project Tomahawk in Prosper hours before the council vote ↗CBS News Texas
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