MARA’s 2 GW Texas Project Gets Conditional ERCOT Study Status
MARA (NASDAQ: MARA) said its planned Matagorda data center campus in Texas received a conditional “Studied Load” classification under the state grid operator’s Batch Zero process, leaving its proposed capacity of up to 2 gigawatts subject to further assessment and allocation.
The company disclosed the designation in a Monday post on X. Its Granbury and Garden City sites received conditional “Base Load” classifications, covering approximately 280 megawatts and 200 megawatts of maximum operating capacity, respectively.
The distinction matters for how much electricity Matagorda can ultimately draw from the grid. Base Load projects are included in the system-wide study without further capacity allocation, while Studied Load projects remain subject to allocation through that process. Matagorda’s classification therefore leaves the amount of capacity it will receive unresolved.
MARA announced the Matagorda transaction in July, outlining plans for a campus spanning more than 1,200 acres about 90 miles southwest of Houston. At the time, it projected access to as much as 1 GW of grid capacity by October 2027 and 2 GW by April 2028, supporting high-performance computing and flexible workloads including bitcoin mining. The September 14 disclosure provided no revised timetable.
The regulatory outcome also has implications for the transaction’s payment schedule. MARA’s second-quarter filing put the maximum purchase price at $600 million, payable through milestones tied to approvals, land acquisition and a third-party data center lease. The first payment is contingent on Batch Zero approval, with no payment due absent that approval. MARA’s latest post did not say whether the conditional classification satisfies that contractual requirement.
Texas approved Batch Zero in June to evaluate qualifying large electricity users together, replacing a project-by-project approach. The framework covers loads of at least 75 MW and is intended to determine how much additional demand the grid can accommodate and what transmission upgrades are needed.
ERCOT notified utilities of provisional classifications on Sept. 3. Projects may still need to pass verification, remedy modeling deficiencies or obtain regulatory exceptions, depending on their circumstances. Failure to meet applicable conditions can result in removal from Batch Zero.
MARA joins other digital infrastructure developers reporting different classifications across their portfolios. Galaxy Digital disclosed on September 8 that 1,630 MW at its Helios campus received Base Load status, while three expansion requests totaling 2,600 MW received Studied Load status. Those classifications also remain conditional.
MARA shares closed September 14 down 4% at $11.50. The session also included a JPMorgan downgrade to Underweight from Neutral and a price-target cut to $11 from $13, providing another development alongside the grid disclosure.
