SITE SELECTION AND FEASIBILITY SCREENING FOR DATA CENTER AND NATURAL GAS GENERATION SITES

Sector: Data center and natural gas generation siting
ISO: Multiple ISOs
Scale: 200 MW to +1 GW candidate sites
Schedule: 2025 – 2026
Client: A private large-load and data center development company
Service Lines: Development Management (Site Selection & Feasibility)

The Challenge: Candidate sites ranging 200 MW to +1 GW, screened for data center loads paired with combined-cycle or simple-cycle natural gas generation. Zoning, permitting, fiber availability, and natural gas availability had to be validated before capital commitment.

CGP's Role

• Siting criteria development — Built a siting criteria framework to screen and rank candidate sites consistently across the portfolio.

• Due diligence coordination — Led due diligence on zoning, permitting, fiber availability, and natural gas availability, including direct discussions with ISPs, natural gas transmission/distribution entities, and transmission service providers to validate adequacy for each candidate site.

• Air permitting feasibility — Scoped an air permit and emissions study with an outside consultant to validate the ability to obtain permits and meet state and federal emissions requirements for combined-cycle and simple-cycle generation across a range of unit sizes.

Outcome: The framework gave the client an apples-to-apples way to compare data center and natural gas generation sites ranging from 200 MW to over 1 GW before committing development capital, with fiber, gas, and emissions permitting feasibility validated up front rather than discovered during full-scale development.