DOE to Fund Colchis over Skybox/Emergent?

Fox West Texas reported the U.S. Department of Energy will loan AEP $3.26 billion for electrical infrastructure upgrades and expansion:

The agency said the financing will support about 100 transmission projects across Texas, including rebuilding or reconductoring existing transmission lines and constructing new transmission infrastructure spanning roughly 2,800 miles. 

Officials said the projects are intended to improve grid reliability, reduce power interruptions and help connect new sources of baseload generation to the system. 

The department said the transmission upgrades are also aimed at meeting growing electricity demand from data centers, advanced manufacturing and oil and natural gas development in the Permian Basin.

AEP has an agreement with Cipher Digital's Colchis Data Center project in just outside of city limits in Northeast San Angelo.  It is basically across the street from the proposed Skybox/Emergent Data Center.

ERCOT's Batch Zero competition will determine which data center projects get the necessary power.   

July 10, 2026 — Deadline for projects wanting to be part of Batch Zero to submit required technical studies and documentation.

Cipher Digital previously noted in a press release:

The Colchis site includes a fully executed 1-GW Direct Connect Agreement with American Electric Power (“AEP”), under which AEP will construct the necessary dual interconnection facility for a targeted energization in 2028. Construction of the interconnection facility will proceed in parallel with ERCOT's final review and approval.

If the DOE is funding AEP's Direct Connect interconnection facility with Colchis, is that not a thumb on the scale for that project over Skybox/Emergent, which leads us back to my original comment: 

I wonder if AEP's dual interconnection facility garners them an equity stake in Colchis. It seems strange that AEP would pick one data center over another at this stage. Shouldn't they work with whichever was approved by ERCOT via Batch Zero? It feels like a thumb on the scale. 

 However it is Texas where there are lots of thumbs and even more scales.

Spring 2027 is the timeframe for ERCOT to " provides each Batch Zero large user with the amount of electricity that can reliably be allocated for their project."  Losers can then enter Batch One.  

As for lowering energy prices, that remains to be seen.   Our prices continue to go up while Texas electrical providers pay us 50% of the rate they did just 15 months ago for our solar power.  

Individual generators get less and less for the power we produce, while delivery fees and base fees continue to eat us up.  Having solar with battery backup hasn't been a zero, but it's nowhere near the projections made when we installed the system.  And we have ERCOT to thank for that. 

Yes, the people who left us without power for five days in frigid conditions in February 2021 continue to deliver us a bad hand.  The DOE loan to AEP may soften that just a tad.  Time will tell.