Austin City Council unanimously told city staff to write binding data center rules by the end of 2026. The rules will set where data centers can go and limits on water use, power use, noise and lighting. The council must be told about any data center asking for more than 20 megawatts of power or more than 85 million gallons of water a year. Several council members want large data centers kept out of the city.

Aug 27, 2026Source

Built & runningBeing builtApproved, not built yetProposedStopped or cancelled

What you can do

Get told first.
We'll email you if anything changes in Austin City.
Go to council meetings.
Anyone can speak. Big projects usually need a public hearing.
Ask questions in writing.
Use our checklist.

📣 Report something here

🔔 Get told first

⚡ Your electric company

Depending on where you live in Austin City: Pedernales Electric Co-op, Inc. (co-op (owned by its members)) or Bluebonnet Electric Co-op, Inc. (co-op (owned by its members)) or Austin Energy (run by the town).

In much of Texas you can pick who sells you power, but this company owns the power lines.

Big data centers need a lot of power. Who pays for new power lines depends on state rules. See the rules in Texas.

🙋 Open tasks here

Was the new building approved and built?
How much power will it add?
Is this a data center or an R&D center? The company and its filings say different things.
How much water will it use?

How to help →

2 data center projects in Austin City

In Austin City

Switch data center expansion (Smith School Road, Austin)

Cosmos Technology Campus (former 3M site, Four Points, Austin)

Nearby (within 15 miles)

Tesla Cortex AI data centers (Giga Texas)

Sabey Data Centers Austin campus (Round Rock)

Skybox Austin data center campus (Pflugerville)

Local votes and rules

📌 Other

What you can do

🔔 Get told first

👥 What neighbors here report

⚡ Your electric company

🙋 Open tasks here