Ionic Digital (NASDAQ: IOND) said Thursday that ERCOT provisionally classified the remaining 466 MW requested at its Ward County, Texas, campus as Base Load. Energizing the tranche would bring the site to 700 MW of aggregate demand.
Texas-New Mexico Power, the transmission service provider interconnecting the campus, notified Ionic Digital of the designation. The operator is targeting energization of the final 466 MW by the end of 2027.
ERCOT must complete verification and an audit before issuing its final classification, with the process subject to Public Utility Commission of Texas oversight.
"Ionic Digital is fully participating in that process and shares Governor Greg Abbott's focus on grid reliability and the responsible development of data centers in Texas," the company said.
Stay ahead of AI infrastructure deals. Get Blockspace in your inbox.
Base Load status advances Ionic Digital's request
Base Load is the more favorable of ERCOT's two Batch Zero classifications for eligible projects. ERCOT treats Base Load capacity as sufficiently mature and committed for the system-wide study, while Studied Load projects compete for an allocation of available transmission capacity.
The designation is not final interconnection approval and does not guarantee Ionic Digital will energize the capacity by its target date. Conditional classifications can be withdrawn if projects fail the verification audit or applicable stability assessments, as detailed in Blockspace's Batch Zero overview .
ERCOT established Batch Zero as an interim pathway for large loads measuring 75 MW or more. It considers qualifying requests together to assess reliability effects, allocate available transmission capacity and develop transmission plans where feasible.
Ionic Digital's announcement came amid a round of provisional classifications across Texas data-center operators. Blockspace's Batch Zero scoreboard identified 13.275 GW of conditionally secured capacity, including 6.875 GW of Base Load, 3.2 GW of Studied Load, 3.2 GW of unspecified Cipher capacity and additional undisclosed IREN classifications.
Ward County's path to 700 MW
Ward County had 234 MW of contracted operating capacity when Ionic Digital reported second-quarter results in August. The 466 MW request covers the balance needed to reach the campus's previously requested 700 MW demand.
The 700 MW figure represents aggregate site demand rather than critical IT load, contracted customer capacity or energized load. Ionic Digital is positioning Ward County as a larger AI/HPC infrastructure campus as it shifts its revenue base toward infrastructure leasing.
Stay ahead of AI infrastructure deals. Get Blockspace in your inbox.
Ionic Digital previously said the expansion depended on ERCOT approval and the finishing of two utility infrastructure projects. The provisional classification moves the grid process forward, but Thursday's release did not provide an update on those projects.
