The Public Utility Commission of Texas on Oct. 15, 2026 signed an order in Docket No. 59115 approving, subject to conditions, a net metering arrangement that would place Silver Basin Digital Infrastructure LLC's proposed data center behind the point of interconnection of a solar plant in Pecos County owned by West Texas Solar Project II LLC (WTSP II). Two days earlier, on Oct. 13, ERCOT filed its study in a separate case, Docket No. 59399, recommending that the commission approve with conditions a 1,200-MW large load for Amazon Data Services, Inc. at the Comanche Peak nuclear plant in Somervell County.

Both cases run under PURA § 39.169, which requires ERCOT to study the system impacts of a proposed net metering arrangement and gives the commission 60 days after the study is filed to approve or deny it. If it approves, the commission may impose "reasonable conditions on the... arrangement as necessary to maintain system reliability," the Pecos County order notes.

The Pecos County order

WTSP II owns and operates Taygete II, which the order describes as a non-dispatchable 204-MW alternating current solar facility interconnected to AEP Texas transmission facilities. Silver Basin has proposed a 180-MW data center load co-located behind Taygete II's point of interconnection and sharing its existing ERCOT-polled settlement meter, according to the order. The joint application was filed Dec. 12, 2025. AEP Texas will serve as transmission service provider, and Texas-New Mexico Power Co. (TNMP) is the distribution service provider for the load.

ERCOT filed its study on Aug. 20, 2026. It identified no transmission criteria violations under the topology, conditions and contingencies it evaluated, found no stranded or underutilized transmission assets, and estimated planning reserve margin impacts of -0.11% to -0.31% across the seasons from Fall 2027 to Winter 2030/2031.

The commission adopted the six conditions ERCOT recommended:

  • The data center load must fully curtail within 30 minutes of an ERCOT instruction issued to avoid or mitigate an actual or anticipated transmission emergency or Energy Emergency Alert (EEA), and Taygete II's available capacity must be made available for ERCOT's economic dispatch. If necessary, the breakers connecting the load must be opened. ERCOT is to give at least 60 minutes' notice when practicable.
  • The arrangement must comply with future applicable ERCOT protocols.
  • The load may not participate in any ERCOT or transmission and distribution service provider demand-response product, program or service.
  • The conditions bind current owners and successors-in-interest.
  • The owners must monitor a compliance docket, Docket No. 60373.
  • The owners must jointly apply for a commission determination on whether to extend, modify or rescind the conditions at least 36 and not more than 60 months after the order.

WTSP II, Silver Basin, ERCOT and commission staff supported approval with those conditions; AEP Texas took no position on the arrangement itself but backed ERCOT's study. TNMP opposed approval, challenged the adequacy of ERCOT's study and argued it could not serve as distribution provider without violating its tariff. In the alternative, it asked for eight additional conditions. In a memo filed Oct. 14 for the open meeting, Chairman Thomas Gleeson wrote that he would approve the revised proposed order with changes and that "I agree with the administrative law judge's determination that ERCOT's study was adequate and supports approval of the net metering arrangement with the conditions identified in the revised proposed order."

The final order concludes that approval "does not require TNMP to own facilities at the point of delivery" and that TNMP's proposed condition requiring TNMP-operated facilities "is not necessary to prevent a violation of other law. Nor is it a reasonable condition necessary to maintain system reliability." It was signed by Chairman Gleeson and Commissioners Kathleen Jackson, Courtney K. Hjaltman and Patrick Rhode.

ERCOT's Comanche Peak study

The ERCOT study in Docket No. 59399 concerns an application by Comanche Peak Power Company LLC, which amended its filing on May 19, 2026 to add Amazon Data Services as the large-load customer. According to the study, Comanche Peak provides approximately 2,400 MW of generating capacity, and the Amazon load is a new 1,200-MW data center.

Under the energization schedule the company submitted to ERCOT, Amazon plans to energize the first 100 MW in or around October 2027, with all 1,200 MW expected to be energized around October 2031.

ERCOT found no transmission criteria violations that remain after redispatch of renewable generation, and estimated planning reserve margin impacts of -0.09 to -0.83 percentage points across the seasons from Fall 2027 to Winter 2030/2031. Because that window does not capture the load's peak demand, ERCOT also approximated Fall 2031 impacts of -2.29 and -2.34 percentage points for the Net Load and Peak Net Load hours.

ERCOT recommends approval subject to conditions that include full curtailment of the Amazon load within 30 minutes of an ERCOT instruction tied to an actual or anticipated transmission emergency or EEA, opening the breakers to disconnect the load if necessary to ensure compliance, and a bar on the load participating in demand-response products.

How the Texas cases are stacking up

The Pecos County order says its six conditions are consistent with those the commission approved in the three other net metering cases that have reached a final decision: Docket No. 58881 (Apr. 23, 2026), Docket No. 58872 (May 7, 2026) and Docket No. 59220 (July 24, 2026). ERCOT's Comanche Peak study says its recommended conditions generally align with those same three cases. In a preview of the Oct. 15 meeting, The Texas Dispatch described the July case as requiring the customer to disconnect entirely when ERCOT says a transmission emergency demands it and to return in three to five years to revisit the terms. The Oct. 15 open meeting agenda listed three such applications: Silver Basin as Item 10, Comanche Peak as Item 13, and a joint application by Willow Springs Wind Farm, LLC and Haskell DC Owner LLC in Docket No. 59943 as Item 17. The agenda listed Items 13 and 17 among those that would not be taken up at that meeting.

What Happens Next

In Pecos County, the owners' joint application for review of the conditions falls due between October 2029 and October 2031.

For Comanche Peak, the commission has 60 days after ERCOT's study to act; counting from the Oct. 13 filing, that runs to Dec. 12, 2026. The Texas Dispatch reports that if the commission misses the deadline, the statute treats the arrangement as approved.

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