By Sam Barnes, P.E., Market Leader, Atwell
When evaluating land for a new data center, it’s easy to focus on things like acreage, location, or proximity to a transmission line. While those characteristics matter, they only tell part of the story. Developers need to understand whether the site can deliver the right megawatt capacity, on the required timeline, with the reliability, cost, and flexibility needed to support today’s project and future growth.
Successful site selection happens in layers. Each new layer of information helps validate or challenge the assumptions made before it. As you move from understanding your project’s power needs to evaluating infrastructure, schedule, cost, and risk, you build a clearer picture of whether a site can support your goals. The more questions you answer early, the more confident your investment decisions become.
Step 1: Define the project’s actual power requirements
The first step in the process of selecting a data center site is to understand what your project actually needs.
Start by asking questions like:
- For the first phase of development, what is the operating load?
- How does that change as more phases are completed?
- What is the total campus buildout and what voltage level will the facility require?
- Will the load remain fairly steady, or will it fluctuate?
By understanding the project in both short-term and long-term needs, a better foundation for site evaluation is created.
Key message: You can’t evaluate available capacity until you define what the project needs and when it needs it.
Step 2: Look beyond nearby transmission lines and substations
A transmission line or substation near a property doesn’t automatically mean your project can connect to it. A desktop review should evaluate:
- Nearby substations and transmission lines
- Voltage levels
- Utility service territories
- Regional transmission organizations or independent system operators
- Planned transmission and generation projects
- Existing large-load customers in the area
- Public utility plans
- Potential routes from the power source to the site
Infrastructure may already be assigned to another customer, lack sufficient capacity, or be unable to physically extend to the site.
Key message: Proximity to power is only a starting point and nearby doesn’t always mean available.
Step 3: Confirm what “available capacity” actually means
Early conversations, maps, or broker information can be useful starting points, but they are not commitments. To get a true feel for what is available, ask questions like:
- Is the capacity available today or only after planned upgrades?
- Has it already been assigned or reserved for another customer?
- Is the number based on normal or contingency conditions?
- What infrastructure improvements are required?
- Who pays for those improvements?
- What approvals are still needed?
Key message: Available capacity and deliverable capacity are not the same thing.
Step 4: Establish a realistic energization timeline
Power may be available, but not when your project needs it. Developers should ask for timeline assumptions to get a feel of where timing may shift rather than relying on a single estimated energization date. Understand the major milestones, including:
- Large-load request
- Feasibility and system-impact studies
- Service agreements
- Regulatory and local approvals
- Infrastructure design
- Land and easement acquisition
- Equipment procurement
- Construction
- Testing and energization
Some activities can occur simultaneously while others depend on utility schedules, permitting, or long equipment lead times. It’s also worth watching a bigger regulatory shift already underway. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is weighing whether to take federal jurisdiction over how large loads connect to the transmission grid, a process that has historically been handled state by state. If that authority shifts, it could change who developers negotiate interconnection terms with and how approval timelines are structured going forward.
Key message: Understand if the complete infrastructure system can be designed, approved, procured, constructed, and energized when the project needs it.
Step 5: Determine the physical path to power
Power may be available, but it may need to cross someone else’s property to bring it to the site. Scout the surrounding area to understand:
- Transmission or distribution routes
- Utility corridors and rights-of-way
- Parcels that would need to be crossed
- Existing easements and whether they are sufficient
- Railroad, highway, pipeline, or waterway crossings
- Environmental constraints
- Required setbacks and buffer areas
- Space for an on-site substation
- Conflicts with future campus expansion
Key message: Power may seem available, but if there is no practical route to deliver it, it is not truly available to the property.
Step 6: Evaluate reliability, not just total megawatts
Meeting your required load is only part of the equation; mission-critical facilities also require dependable service. To understand power reliability, ask:
- Can the site receive power from more than one source?
- What is the local outage history?
- How are maintenance outages handled?
- Is a dedicated substation needed?
- What backup systems will be needed?
Key message: Power consistency is as important as power availability.
Step 7: Understand the full cost of getting power to the property
The price of the land may only be a portion of the site’s total cost to energization. To understand the total cost, evaluate the following:
- Utility studies and application fees
- Substation construction
- Transmission or distribution extensions
- Network upgrades
- New utility corridors
- Easement and land acquisition
- Environmental mitigation
Understanding which costs belong to the developer and which belong to the utility creates a more complete financial picture.
Key message: Don’t just evaluate the land price or utility rate – understand the total cost to energization.
Step 8: Examine conditions attached to the power commitment
Power capacity may come with specific conditions in place from commercial, regulatory, or operational requirements. Common conditions that should be considered are:
- Deposits or letters of credit
- Construction contributions
- Minimum usage requirements
- Take-or-pay provisions
- Capacity reservation milestones
- Curtailment or demand-response requirements
- Cost responsibility for future upgrades
- Large-load tariffs
- Service agreement deadlines
Key message: Understand the obligations you commit to when accepting power capacity.
Step 9: Test multiple scenarios
Different scenarios should be evaluated to reduce uncertainty in case power delivery doesn’t go according to plan. For example:
Scenario A: Full utility service on the target schedule
- What must be true for the preferred plan to work?
Scenario B: Phased utility service
- Can the campus begin operating at a smaller load and expand as capacity becomes available?
Scenario C: Delayed permanent service
- What happens if the utility date slips by 12, 24, or 36 months?
Scenario D: Supplemental or on-site generation
- Does the site have the land, fuel access, permitting environment, and infrastructure needed for an interim solution?
Key message: Don’t expect the process to unfold perfectly from the get-go. Develop scenarios to prepare you for deviations from the original plan.
Step 10: Bring every layer of information together
You now have a foundation of knowledge about the site that reveals how capacity, infrastructure, schedule, reliability, cost, and risk work together. That information helps determine whether:
- The site has a credible path to meeting project goals
- Additional due diligence or contractual protection would be beneficial
- The risks outweigh the opportunity
Key message: The best site selection decisions are built by layering information until you have confidence in the path forward.
Better decisions start with better information
The evaluation of power should be a major part of the land decision. Each layer of analysis adds clarity, helping separate what’s technically possible from what’s realistically deliverable.
By defining the load, validating capacity, evaluating infrastructure, understanding timelines and costs, and planning for multiple scenarios, you can make site decisions based on facts rather than assumptions. The more complete the picture, the more informed and confident your decision becomes.
