Data centers in Matagorda County, Texas: 1 project mapped

Imagery: Esri, Maxar

Two small data centers are planned in Matagorda County by Barrio Energy, a Houston company that already operates sites in Monahans, George West, Lolita and Tyler for crypto miners and other computing clients. Each site is planned at 10 megawatts on the ERCOT grid; the exact locations have not been made public. Barrio said the first site was due to start operating in the fourth quarter of 2025 and the second in the first quarter of 2026; no report on either has been published since.

Residents formed a group, Matagorda County Against Data Centers, and started a petition, worried mainly about water in a farming county. "We already have the city of Corpus Christi taking from the Colorado River, we have farmers who can't get water to their crops, and now we're going to have these monstrosities come in," said Cheryl Wilkins. "I'm not completely against data centers, but I believe data centers belong in a better place, not small rural communities," said Donna Howard.

The county's economic development corporation backs the project. Its director, Michael Ferdinand, said 10 megawatts on 4 acres "isn't a large data center," since ERCOT's large-load category starts at 75 megawatts, and that Barrio would not draw water from the city or the Lower Colorado River Authority. The corporation said a 10-megawatt site uses about as much power as 2,500 homes, "not 8,000-10,000 as claimed," and that Barrio's sites shut down during peak demand while paying for grid upgrades under the state law known as SB 6. Howard was not persuaded: "10 megawatts is still large, I feel like they're downplaying," she said.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.