Texas Solarworks LLC data center, Lubbock, Texas

Texas Solar Works withdrew its request to rezone 936 acres off Northeast Loop 289 and East Municipal Drive in northeast Lubbock, Lubbock County, Texas, for a hyperscale data center in January 2026, after the city's Planning and Zoning Commission voted 4-3 against it. Hugo Reed and Associates, for the company, had asked to change the mostly low-density single-family land to general industrial, with a specific use permit for power generation, transmission and distribution.

The data center would have drawn on large lines connecting to ERCOT, solar power and gas generation. About 10 people spoke against it at the Jan. 8 commission meeting, many from north and east Lubbock neighborhoods that say they already carry heavy industrial burdens. "Gas turbines, pollution, noise. No, absolutely not," Fabian Mata said. John Osborne of the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance said the developer had committed to moving the energy portion to 500 adjacent acres it planned to buy in the county, and that the site was being built for a buyer not yet known.

Osborne said the builder planned to adjust the request to be "more in line with what the community has requested" and resubmit it with a site plan. Residents then gathered more than 3,900 verified signatures for an 18-month moratorium on high-water and high-energy data centers, which the council accepted on Aug. 25, 2026.

On Sept. 22 the council let the 18-month version fail without a second and voted 5-2 to start a 90-day moratorium on rezoning, permits and annexations for large data centers, which needs two public hearings before it takes effect. "No one's coming to Lubbock in the next year anyway with a data center," Mayor Mark McBrayer said. Any resubmitted rezoning would go before the Lubbock City Council, which has the final say.