Texas halts all new data center grid connections pending audits

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

• Abbott Freezes Texas Data Center Grid Approvals: Governor Greg Abbott ordered audits of all data centers seeking grid connections, halting new approvals until reviews are complete — a move that could stall gigawatts of planned solar and storage projects tied to data center load growth. Read More: data center load growth.
• Dominion Offshore Wind Costs Jump $300M: Dominion Energy's coastal Virginia offshore wind project absorbed another roughly $300 million in cost increases driven by PJM network upgrades, Trump administration tariffs, and revised turbine installation timelines, per Utility Dive. Read More: Utility Dive.
• Avantus Closes $1.05B Solar-Storage Credit Facility: The utility-scale developer secured a $1.05 billion corporate credit line to advance a 24 GW pipeline — 13 GW of solar integrated with 44 GWh of battery storage — across California and the Desert Southwest. Read More: California and the Desert Southwest.
• Goldman Sachs Buys RWE's U.S. Distributed Energy Unit: Goldman Sachs Alternatives is acquiring RWE Americas' distributed clean energy business — 348 MWdc of operating assets in 16 states plus a 1.2 GW development pipeline — in a deal expected to close in Q4 2026. Read More: Q4 2026.
• Indiana AG Moves to Block Rockport Coal Retirement: Attorney General Todd Rokita filed an intervention to prevent the planned closure of the Rockport coal plant in Spencer County, scheduled for retirement by the end of 2028, in the latest state-level fight over fossil fuel phase-out timelines. Read More: fossil fuel phase-out timelines.

Solar & Storage

Google and RWE locked in a 15-year power purchase agreement for the 155-MW Crooked Creek Solar project in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, a deal that will generate an estimated $24.3 million in local economic activity and roughly 250 construction jobs, according to multiple reports. The contract signals that Big Tech procurement remains a reliable offtake channel for utility-scale solar even as federal policy headwinds persist. For developers working the Southern Plains, the deal reaffirms Oklahoma's position as a corridor where land costs, irradiance, and corporate buyer appetite still pencil out. Read More: multiple reports.

RWE's Oklahoma deal is one piece of a broader corporate reshuffling. The German energy giant is simultaneously offloading its U.S. distributed clean energy portfolio — 348 MWdc of operating assets across 16 states and a 1.2 GW development pipeline — to Goldman Sachs Alternatives, with closing expected in Q4 2026. RWE Americas said it will refocus on its 13 GW of utility-scale projects and planned additions of 9 GW in solar, wind, battery storage, and natural gas. The divestiture effectively splits the U.S. renewables market along scale lines: Goldman gets the rooftop and community-solar assets, while RWE doubles down on the big iron. Developers in the distributed segment should watch whether Goldman accelerates or restructures the pipeline it's inheriting.

Meanwhile, Avantus closed a $1.05 billion upsized corporate credit facility to bankroll its transition from pure developer to independent power producer. The company's pipeline — 13 GW of solar PV integrated with 44 GWh of battery energy storage across California and the Desert Southwest — represents one of the largest combined solar-storage development portfolios in the country. The financing significantly expands the company's previous capital structure, according to PV Magazine. That a billion-dollar facility closed in the current interest rate environment is itself a data point: lenders still see utility-scale solar-plus-storage as bankable at scale. Read More: PV Magazine.

Separately, Clearway Energy Group cancelled a controversial plan to swap an existing solar farm for a data center and gas plant, opting instead to keep the renewable asset operating, Heatmap News reported. The reversal is notable at a time when some developers have been tempted to convert solar sites into higher-margin gas or data center projects. In other project news, REC Power acquired a 68-MW solar portfolio spanning seven states, and Origis Energy brought additional phases of its Rockhound Solar complex in Texas to commercial operation, according to Solar Builder. Read More: Heatmap News reported, Solar Builder.

Wind Energy

Dominion Energy's offshore wind project off the Virginia coast — one of the few large U.S. offshore wind developments still advancing — saw its price tag swell by nearly $300 million. The cost increase stems from three sources: PJM Interconnection network upgrade charges, tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, and revised projections for turbine installation timelines, Utility Dive reported. The escalation lands just days after Democratic governors publicly pressured the White House to resume permitting on other stalled offshore wind projects, including the 704-MW Revolution Wind, which forced Eversource to book a $164 million impairment charge last quarter. Read More: Utility Dive reported.

For the offshore wind sector, Dominion's cost creep is a warning sign with wider implications. Tariff exposure and interconnection queue costs are not unique to this project — they threaten every large offshore installation still in development along the Atlantic seaboard. Developers watching the Dominion trajectory will be recalculating contingency budgets, and state regulators reviewing rate recovery will face harder math on consumer costs.

Policy & Markets

Governor Abbott's decision to freeze data center grid connections in Texas until audits are completed may be the most consequential policy move of the week for clean energy developers. Data center load growth has been the single biggest demand driver for new generation in ERCOT over the past two years, underwriting solar, storage, and even gas projects. A prolonged halt could delay interconnection timelines and PPAs already in negotiation. The order did not specify a timeline for completing the audits, leaving developers in limbo. In Ohio, Eolian's Flint Grid Project — a battery storage installation aimed at serving data center load — broke ground recently, illustrating how the data center-clean energy nexus is playing out differently across state lines.

In Indiana, Attorney General Todd Rokita filed to intervene and block the planned retirement of the Rockport coal plant in Spencer County, set for closure by the end of 2028. The Sierra Club pushed back, calling the move a threat to the state's energy transition. The case fits a pattern: state attorneys general and legislatures in coal-dependent states are increasingly using legal tools to slow plant retirements, even where utilities have already committed to replacement generation. For developers with projects in Indiana's interconnection queue, any delay in coal retirements complicates the capacity picture and could affect dispatch economics for new solar and storage.

The FCC added foreign-produced inverters to its covered list, blocking new imports effective immediately, according to CleanTechnica. The ban targets a critical component in virtually every solar installation, residential through utility-scale. Developers who haven't already secured domestic or approved-origin inverter supply could face project delays and cost increases. Combined with existing tariffs on modules and cells, the inverter restriction tightens the supply chain vise another turn — and could accelerate the advantage of vertically integrated manufacturers with U.S. production. Read More: CleanTechnica.

LOOKING AHEAD

• Texas Data Center Audit Scope: Watch for details on the timeline and criteria for Governor Abbott's data center grid audits — the duration and breadth of the freeze will determine how severely ERCOT-connected solar and storage pipelines are affected.
• Dominion Wind Cost Recovery Filing: Dominion Energy will need to seek regulatory approval for the additional $300 million in offshore wind costs, setting up a rate case that could test Virginia regulators' appetite for continued offshore wind investment.
• Inverter Supply Chain Reaction: The FCC's immediate ban on foreign-produced inverter imports could trigger emergency procurement shifts across the solar industry — developers should monitor lead times from approved suppliers in the coming weeks.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The data center boom that has fueled clean energy demand is now running headlong into grid capacity politics in Texas and supply chain restrictions on inverters — and developers who built their pipelines around that demand need contingency plans for both.