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A data-center site is feasible only when the required power, water, cooling, network service, approvals, and expansion capacity are demonstrably deliverable at the project’s scale and schedule. A nearby substation, water main, fiber route, or industrial-zoned parcel is a lead for diligence—not proof of service. Assess each candidate against the actual workload, energization date, resilience target, resource constraints, and growth plan, then require written evidence from utilities, carriers, water providers, regulators, and planning authorities.
Start with a requirement the site must satisfy
Site comparisons become unreliable when one parcel is judged against a different load, schedule, or resilience assumption than another. Create a one-page requirements brief before contacting utilities or scoring land. Record the initial IT load in megawatts, each expansion phase, target energization date, rack-density assumptions, cooling approach, uptime and maintainability objective, network latency needs, geographic user base, and the amount of land and utility capacity needed for later phases.
Define the operating envelope
- Load: Separate IT load from total facility demand, including cooling, pumps, power conversion, lighting, and other overhead.
- Phasing: State the first operational block and the ultimate build-out. A site that can serve phase one but cannot support the expansion case is not equivalent to a site with a credible long-term supply.
- Resilience: Describe the required utility feeds, backup generation, storage, maintenance windows, network independence, and acceptable outage scenarios.
- Resource assumptions: Identify acceptable water sources, discharge constraints, drought operating modes, and the energy implications of the proposed cooling system.
- Schedule: Set the date by which power, water, communications, permits, and construction access must be ready—not merely the date civil work is expected to start.
ASHRAE’s site-planning guidance treats workload, density, power, cooling, connectivity, resilience, permitting, and stakeholder conditions as linked planning inputs. Early choices affect lifecycle performance and total cost. See ASHRAE’s Site Planning resource for the framework.
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Set an evidence standard
Label every assumption as either confirmed, conditionally offered, or unverified. A utility map, broker statement, or public planning map can identify a promising parcel, but it cannot establish spare capacity, a water allocation, a carrier commitment, or a permit outcome. For each material claim, record the issuing organization, document date, service point, conditions, expiration, and the next action required to convert it into a binding commitment.
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Power delivery is the primary feasibility test
Why proximity to a substation is not capacity
Two parcels can sit the same distance from a substation while having completely different interconnection prospects. Available transformer capacity, feeder topology, protection requirements, transmission constraints, planned industrial load, and the utility’s expansion program determine what can actually be delivered. ASHRAE specifically calls for early evaluation of substation proximity, available capacity, utility expansion plans, interconnection, and equipment lead times. Distance is therefore a screening clue, not a service guarantee.
Request a site-specific utility package
Ask the serving utility for written responses tied to the parcel and the proposed load profile. The package should address:
- Requested initial and ultimate load, voltage, connection point, and whether the offer is firm, interruptible, or contingent.
- Existing deliverable capacity and the transmission, substation, transformer, feeder, protection, or control upgrades required.
- Engineering, interconnection, procurement, construction, testing, and energization milestones.
- Cost allocation for every upgrade, including customer-funded facilities, utility contributions, deposits, and escalation rules.
- Power-quality characteristics, outage history or reliability information available for the service area, and planned maintenance arrangements.
- Conditions under which the service date could move, such as permitting, long-lead equipment, load growth by other customers, or transmission studies.
Request separate confirmation for the first phase and the full expansion case. A date for an initial energization does not establish that later megawatts will be available.
Test schedule against equipment lead times
Interconnection work can take longer than the building shell. Compare the utility’s study, procurement, construction, and commissioning milestones with the data-center construction schedule. Ask which milestones are contractual, which are planning estimates, and what event allows the utility to revise them. The U.S. Department of Energy describes a portfolio of responses—generation, storage, grid expansion, efficiency, demand flexibility, planning, and interconnection reform—in its Clean Energy Resources to Meet Data Center Electricity Demand page. Use that broad view when a project depends on a new line, generation resource, storage system, or flexible-load arrangement rather than assuming the distribution network alone will solve the constraint.
Disclose the full load and define flexibility
Understating load can invalidate a utility study and create later reliability or cost disputes. Provide a realistic profile that includes simultaneous operation, seasonal peaks, commissioning demand, battery charging, and future phases. If the project proposes curtailment, storage, on-site generation, or workload shifting, specify the duration, notice period, frequency, and operating limits. Maryland’s 2026 executive order emphasizes accurate load reporting, full incremental energy needs, flexibility, and clear responsibility for infrastructure costs; its requirements are jurisdiction-specific, but they illustrate the questions an approval authority may ask. The order is available at Maryland Executive Order 01.01.2026.16.
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Evaluate water through three separate tests
Water risk is not one number. The Open Compute Project’s March 2026 water, heat, and energy overview separates three tests: environmental capacity, infrastructure capacity, and water rights. A basin that appears water-secure can still lack a pipe, treatment capacity, or legal entitlement for a new facility. Review the Open Compute Project overview for those distinctions.
1. Environmental capacity
Determine whether the watershed or aquifer can sustain the project’s withdrawals under normal, dry, and projected future conditions. Examine seasonal variability, drought plans, competing municipal and industrial demand, environmental flow requirements, and restrictions that could apply during a water emergency. A regional stress map is a screening input; it does not reserve supply for the parcel.
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Confirm that water can physically reach the site at the required flow, pressure, quality, and temperature, and that the provider can treat and deliver it when all phases operate. Obtain main size and location, available allocation, treatment limitations, connection design, upgrade scope, construction schedule, and who pays. Verify wastewater and blowdown conveyance as well as incoming supply. A water main shown near the boundary may lack unallocated treatment or transmission capacity.
3. Water rights and approvals
Identify the legal right or allocation supporting each source: potable, reclaimed, surface water, groundwater, or another permitted supply. Confirm whether the right belongs to the project, the utility, or a contracted supplier; whether transfers or new permits are required; and what drought, seasonal, or discharge conditions apply. Include cooling-tower blowdown, chemical handling, stormwater, and wastewater permits in the schedule.
Match cooling design to local water and energy conditions
Climate and workload determine the balance between water consumption and electricity use. Evaporative systems can reduce cooling energy in dry conditions but consume water. Dry or air-cooled systems can reduce on-site water use while increasing electricity demand, which may shift some water consumption to the power-generation system. The U.S. Department of Energy’s federal guideline explains this water-energy tradeoff; although it was written for federal data-center consolidation, the lifecycle principle remains useful. Read it at DOE FEMP’s water and energy guideline.
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Build a phase-by-phase water balance
For each design option, quantify normal and peak makeup water, evaporation, blowdown, treatment losses, maintenance events, and water used during commissioning. Model hot-weather operation, drought restrictions, reduced water quality, and a failed cooling component. Then calculate indirect effects: a low-water cooling design may raise electricity demand, while an evaporative design may increase exposure to local water restrictions. Compare potable, reclaimed, closed-loop, hybrid, and dry-cooling options only where the required permits and delivery infrastructure are realistic.
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Require the assumptions behind any water-use estimate: weather data, IT load, cooling set points, hours at peak, cycles of concentration, and treatment quality. Tie the number to a specific phase and operating mode. Confirm whether the provider can maintain the required quality and whether discharge limits constrain cycles of concentration. The decision should consider direct withdrawals, wastewater, energy use, and the resilience of the source rather than selecting the smallest on-site water figure in isolation.
Prove connectivity at the parcel
Connectivity must be evaluated where the cables enter the property and along their complete physical paths. ASHRAE identifies connectivity as a data-center-specific siting requirement, but general siting guidance does not establish a universal route-diversity threshold. Carrier and network-engineering evidence is therefore essential.
Obtain carrier confirmations
- Which carriers can deliver service to the exact parcel, and through which entrances or rights of way?
- What committed capacity, installation interval, service-level terms, and construction work are available for the initial and expansion phases?
- What latency and jitter should be expected to the users, cloud regions, exchanges, and interconnection points that matter to the workload?
- Are proposed circuits physically independent, or do they share a conduit, bridge, pole line, road crossing, building entrance, upstream aggregation site, or utility corridor?
- What repair access, spares, restoration priorities, and maintenance windows apply?
Map failure domains
Two carrier contracts do not automatically create two independent paths. Obtain route drawings or engineering attestations that show entry points, major crossings, aggregation facilities, and common upstream dependencies. Test failures of a single duct, road, bridge, carrier facility, regional exchange, or power source. Set diversity requirements from the workload’s recovery objective and geography; do not substitute a generic “two fibers” rule for a documented failure-domain analysis.
Check approvals, hazards, and community impacts early
Permitting and land-use path
Confirm title and site control, zoning compatibility, conditional-use requirements, building and electrical approvals, environmental review, water appropriation, wastewater and discharge permits, stormwater design, generator emissions, noise, traffic, and construction access. Build a permit matrix showing the authority, application, dependency, submission date, decision date, appeal exposure, and effect on energization. Maryland’s executive order specifically calls attention to energy plans, water supply, cooling alternatives, stormwater, discharges, and backup-generator emissions.
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Hazard and physical resilience screening
Use current, location-specific sources to screen flood, wildfire, extreme heat, seismic conditions, subsidence, severe storms, and ground instability. Translate each hazard into design consequences: finished-floor elevation, drainage, fire protection, cooling derating, structural requirements, fuel access, or alternate network routes. The available framework does not establish a hazard rating for any particular parcel, so a map-based screen must be followed by engineering and authority confirmation.
Community and Indigenous engagement
Large loads can affect local rates, water resources, emissions, land use, noise, and public infrastructure. Provide transparent, verifiable impact information and identify who pays for incremental infrastructure. Canada’s Responsible Data Centre Development Principles call for grid reliability, minimized freshwater use, transparent information, and early engagement with local governments and Indigenous communities. Apply the principle in the relevant jurisdiction even when the Canadian document is not legally controlling.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Use a documented comparison scorecard
There is no source-backed universal pass/fail score or weighting scheme. Weight each criterion according to the workload, geography, schedule, resilience objective, and expansion plan. Use gates for requirements that cannot be traded away, then score the remaining differences.
| Decision area | Evidence to collect | Question the evidence must answer |
|---|---|---|
| Power deliverability | Utility capacity letter, connection point, study results, upgrade scope, milestones | Can each phase receive the required firm or defined flexible capacity by the needed date? |
| Power cost responsibility | Connection estimate, deposits, upgrade allocation, escalation terms | Who pays for each facility, and what cost or schedule conditions remain? |
| Power resilience | Reliability information, backup design, storage or generation plan, operating restrictions | What happens during grid stress, maintenance, or a common upstream failure? |
| Water sustainability | Basin assessment, drought rules, seasonal supply information | Can the source sustain the withdrawals under adverse conditions? |
| Water infrastructure | Provider confirmation, treatment and main capacity, connection and wastewater plans | Can water and discharge services reach the parcel at the required quality and flow? |
| Water rights | Permits, allocations, contracts, transfer requirements | Does the project have a valid entitlement for every planned source and phase? |
| Cooling fit | Phase-specific water balance, energy model, weather assumptions, permit constraints | Which design best balances direct water, indirect water, energy, and resilience? |
| Connectivity | Carrier letters, route maps, capacity and latency commitments, repair terms | Are paths and upstream facilities independent enough for the workload? |
| Approvals | Zoning confirmation, permit matrix, environmental and emissions requirements | Is there a credible path to construction and operation on schedule? |
| Physical and community risk | Hazard studies, stormwater and traffic plans, engagement record | Can impacts be mitigated and accepted without an unplanned delay? |
| Expansion | Land plan, future utility reservations, water and network expansion evidence | Can later phases proceed without relying on speculative capacity? |
| Lifecycle value | Capital, operating, resource, upgrade, and remediation estimates | What is the delivered cost and risk over the project life? |
A practical due-diligence sequence
- Freeze the requirement brief. Approve the load, phases, dates, cooling assumptions, resilience objective, network needs, and expansion horizon before ranking land.
- Screen parcels for fatal conflicts. Remove sites that cannot meet basic zoning, flood, access, land-control, or schedule requirements before commissioning detailed studies.
- Open utility inquiries in parallel. Send the same load profile and phase dates to the electric, water, wastewater, and communications providers. Require parcel-specific answers rather than regional maps.
- Model power delivery. Compare utility milestones with construction milestones, identify long-lead equipment, document upgrade costs, and test both initial and ultimate load.
- Complete the water and cooling balance. Test environmental capacity, physical delivery, rights, drought operation, discharge, and direct and indirect resource effects for each cooling design.
- Commission route-level network diligence. Obtain carrier confirmations, physical-path documentation, latency and capacity commitments, and a failure-domain analysis.
- Build the approval and impact schedule. List every land-use, environmental, water, emissions, stormwater, noise, traffic, and community step, including dependencies and appeal windows.
- Run independent technical and legal review. Have qualified engineers, utility specialists, water-rights counsel, network designers, and permitting professionals challenge the evidence and assumptions.
- Set decision gates. Advance only when critical evidence is confirmed or a named decision-maker accepts a documented, priced, and scheduled contingency.
- Preserve an audit trail. Store letters, drawings, studies, meeting notes, models, versions, and validity dates so later design changes can be tested against the original commitments.
Red flags that should stop or re-stage a site
- A broker or public map is the only evidence of spare electric, water, or fiber capacity.
- The utility offers a service date without identifying the required upgrades, milestones, or cost responsibility.
- The project load excludes cooling, storage charging, commissioning, peak operation, or later phases.
- A water-stress rating is presented as proof of allocation, treatment capacity, or legal rights.
- A dry-cooling proposal claims zero water without accounting for higher electricity demand and indirect water use.
- Two network circuits enter through one conduit, crossing, aggregation facility, or other shared failure domain.
- Permits are treated as a single approval even though water, discharge, stormwater, emissions, zoning, and building authorities act separately.
- Community or Indigenous engagement is deferred until after major design and cost commitments.
- Expansion depends on an unnamed future substation, pipeline, carrier, or permit.
- Risk owners cannot state the document, date, condition, and next action supporting a key assumption.
What the final investment decision should contain
The approval package should identify the selected parcel, the workload and phases it supports, every critical utility commitment, the delivery schedule, capital and operating costs, resource and emissions implications, permits, hazards, community commitments, and residual risks. Attach a register that assigns an owner and due date to each unresolved item. Distinguish a binding agreement from a study result, a planning estimate, and an internal assumption.
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Re-test the package whenever the IT load, rack density, cooling design, energization date, carrier plan, or expansion scope changes. Those changes can alter utility studies, water rights, permits, equipment lead times, and community impacts. Grid operators may also request project-impact information during planning; the Electric Reliability Council of Texas Data Center Impact RFI illustrates why accurate, current load information matters.
Bottom line
Choose the site with the strongest documented path to delivered service—not the site with the closest visible infrastructure or the lowest headline land price. Power capacity and schedule, three-part water verification, parcel-level network routes, cooling tradeoffs, permits, hazards, community acceptance, and expansion evidence must all be tested against the same project brief. Where evidence is missing, price the uncertainty, assign an owner, and make it a decision gate rather than silently treating an assumption as a fact.
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