(TEXAS TRIBUNE) - If you look at recent forecasts for future demand on Texas's energy grid, the state must find a way to more than quadruple its energy production in the next six years or risk high energy prices and blackouts.

However, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the energy grid operator that produces the forecasts, says they are wrong thanks to a massive influx of data centers prematurely requesting connection to the grid."Our existing process really was not designed for the volume of large load interconnection requests that we have been experiencing," Jeff Billo, ERCOT's vice president of interconnection and grid analysis, said at the organization's June 2 board meeting.

Interconnection requests from "large loads" like data centers, cryptocurrency mines and industrial facilities that use significant amounts of energy have forced ERCOT to revise its planning and approval process to keep pace with a changing world and economy.