The usual steps
- Set the needs: megawatts, target year, region and acreage.
- Screen: remove land that fails on power, size, flood, wetlands or other limits.
- Shortlist: compare the best candidates side by side.
- Check: talk to the utility, walk the land, review title and zoning.
- Secure: gain site control and file the interconnection request.
Why power comes first
For a large load, the hardest thing to find is a place where enough power can be delivered in time. Land, fiber and water still matter, but a site with no workable path to power is not a site. See time to power.
How Voltane helps
Voltane does the screening and shortlist steps as a service. You send your needs, and Voltane uses its internal map engine to find and report on candidate sites in ERCOT. The output is a screen from public data, not a ruling that a site is suitable. The checks with the utility, the surveyor and the lawyer remain yours.
Questions people ask
How is data center site selection different from solar site selection?
A data center is a load, so it needs power delivered to it, plus fiber and often water. A solar project is a generator, so it needs sun, flat land and a way to send power out. Both depend on the grid nearby.
Can software pick the final site?
No. Software can narrow a large area to a short list and show the evidence. The final choice needs utility studies, field work and legal review.
Related
More glossary
- What is time to power?
- What is powered land?
- What is a powered shell?
- What is large load interconnection?
- What is a point of interconnection?
- What is an interconnection queue?
- What is queue position?
- What is ERCOT?
Need a site, or have one?
Tell us what you need and Voltane finds, reports on and prices candidate sites in ERCOT. Or bring a site you already have for a path-to-power report (by request for now).