Electricity
First, a little background on ERCOT. The Electric Reliability Council Of Texas has no regulatory authority. Their job is to identify areas that need power and direct generated power to those areas. They have no ability to fine or force power companies to change behavior. They do however collect a lot of data.
According to ERCOT data, Bell County has a summer power surplus of about 760 MW and a winter surplus of about 505 MW. The summer peak is higher due to solar farms, but the highest load in winter happens at night. This is the power reserve during peak usage, assuming everything is working correctly.
The Moriah substation has been approved for 600 MW and is adjacent to the three proposed projects: Temple, Stampede, and Ranger.
In 2025, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 6 (SB6), which requires large power consumers (defined as 75MW+) to shut down or switch to generator power during any “grid event,” for example, when power plants fail, or demand exceeds generation.
The Meta datacenter in Temple is exempt.
Rowan claims they are subject to SB6.
The law clearly states that it only applies to consumers connected after July 2025.
Rowan has publicly stated that they will run all power through the Moriah substation.
Rowan has also stated that the Moriah facility was never fully shut down.
Therefore, it stands to reason that Rowan has a grandfather exemption from SB6, at least for the “Project Temple” datacenter, unless a judge or regulatory body says otherwise. Projects Stampede and Ranger are on adjacent property and are likely also exempt.
We would love to be proven wrong on this point as it is one of the larger concerns.
When Temple City Council was asked to please ensure SB6 will apply to Rowan, Mayor Tim Davis responded that the issue is the State’s responsibility. Policy states that the Mayor is wrong.
According to ERCOT, if SB6 had not passed, the State of Texas would be facing brownouts in 2028. Any exceptions or exemptions from SB6 would be a step towards Texas running out of power.
This is not the only concern about power. The increased load on the grid will require additional infrastructure that is difficult to directly blame on Rowan or Meta but will nonetheless be billed to the citizens, as we have seen with other datacenters across the state. Our most vulnerable citizens, those on a fixed income, will be most affected by the increased electric costs. When asked if Rowan had any plans to help offset their impact, they said they already paid for the Moriah substation and had no additional plans to pay for electric infrastructure. This cost falls to us, the ratepayers.
https://www.ercot.com/files/docs/2025/12/19/CapacityDemandandReservesReport_December2025.pdf
More high voltage lines being built in Bell County for expected electric usage increase.