The Texas Public Utility Commission convened a meeting this morning that demystified what has become a hazy timeline for ERCOT’s Batch Zero process.

Batch Zero is ERCOT’s first batch-based large-load interconnection study under new rules meant to accommodate the wave of data center interconnection requests that has swamped Texas and overwhelmed the project-by-project study methodology.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott complicated the revamp further when he ordered an audit of Batch Zero applications to root out the speculative projects from the substantive ones.

But today’s meeting confirmed that ERCOT will move forward with its Batch Zero study in tandem with Abbott’s audit. Most importantly, ERCOT will issue conditional classification for projects that qualify as base load by August 31 (before Abbott’s audit, the original classification deadline was August 7).

The approval is conditional on project developers complying with Abbott’s audit, and the classification will remain conditional while ERCOT conducts its eligibility verification. ERCOT plans to file its verification report on December 10 and discuss it at the PUCT’s December 17 open meeting

If graced with this conditional approval, these companies will still be included in either ERCOT’s August 1 or November 1 Quarterly Stability Assessment (QSA), depending on their place in the queue.

This is critical, because without such relief, those projects would have fallen out of the QSA process and potentially missed their intended energization dates. (We’re talking a lot of load here, folks: 1.96 GW across six projects is expected in the August 1 QSA, targeting Q1 2027 energization, and another 6.87 GW from 17 projects is in the November 1 queue, with Q2 2027 targets).

These contingencies have positive ramifications for Hut 8, Galaxy Digital and CleanSpark, each of which has at least one Texas project seeking or eligible for Batch Zero base-load treatment, as well as Cipher Digital, which has multiple large projects awaiting Batch Zero classification.

There are other Batch Zero timeline questions still in the air, however; for instance, ERCOT is sticking to its April 9, 2027 deadline for the Batch Zero study results, but this could change, since ERCOT “does not yet know how the delay will impact the study timeline.”

Still, stocks with Texas project concentration were reeling in the wake of the delay that Abbott’s audit imposed on the base load decision, and they rallied today now that the fog is clearing and these projects may not lose their place in line for interconnection.

August 31 is the next date to watch. Then, we’ll learn which sites receive base load consideration, and which developers will have to wait even longer in the line.

-CMH

Ionic Digital reported $48.6 million in second-quarter revenue on Wednesday, up 31% from $37.2 million a year earlier. Digital infrastructure leasing generated $43.8 million, or 90% of revenue, while cryptocurrency mining contributed $4.8 million.

The Ward County campus has 234 MW of contracted operating capacity, with cash payments beginning in August. Ionic Digital is seeking ERCOT approval for another 466 MW under its existing interconnection agreement and aims to reach 700 MW by the end of 2027, contingent on that approval and completion of two utility infrastructure projects.

Ionic Digital is also pursuing the conversion of 112 MW of existing Midland capacity into data centers designed for AI workloads. The sites will continue mining bitcoin while conversion work proceeds.

According to El Paso Water forecasts, Meta’s planned El Paso data center would use an average of about 500,000 gallons per day. That equals 182.5 million gallons annually and would leave the facility outside the utility’s current top 10 commercial and institutional users.

The forecast is below the 269.5 million gallons consumed by Ysleta Independent School District, the 10th-largest user in 2025. At 750,000 gallons per day, Meta would move into 10th place, while consumption of 1 million gallons per day would rank ninth.

ChronoScale and Microsoft formed a two-year strategic partnership on August 6 to support a planned deployment of approximately 50 MW of AI compute capacity. ChronoScale disclosed the agreement in its annual report filed Wednesday, alongside fiscal 2026 revenue of $71.6 million, down 15% from the prior year.

The project would pair NVIDIA GB300 systems with advanced liquid cooling for high-density AI and accelerated-compute workloads. ChronoScale expects to complete the deployment in the first quarter of 2027, subject to financing and development, construction and operating milestones.

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