Have you noticed that the Houston area is home to very few large data centers, the likes of which have been springing up around Texas?
One of the main reasons is the price of land in Southeast Texas.
With so many people moving here over the past several years, the most desirable areas have seen major jumps in the cost of properties -- and even the less-desirable areas are seeing prices too high for the newest kinds of data centers.
Those are the kind that are so large they're now expected to bring their own power supplies with them.
"Relative to the suburbs or further outside of Houston or even West Texas, the cost of land acquisition itself is much, much, much higher in the Houston area," says Bracewell LLP partner Jared Berg.
"Outside of city centers are really where you're seeing the new, really large data center campuses being announced."
And those big plants are aware of the limits within the Electrical Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and are making their building plans accordingly, Berg says.
"Generation is being built, co-located with those data centers and as a result more land is needed."
And you can see the vicious circle.
Still, as an energy capital of the world, the Houston area already helps keep electricity and infrastructure working all around America and the world," he adds.