Glossary

Data Centers

Activation Date: The date a data center building is estimated or confirmed to begin operating and consuming power.

Announced: A project that has been publicly disclosed but has not yet entered physical construction.

Campus: A development site containing one or more data center buildings.

Critical IT Load: The electrical capacity available specifically for servers and IT equipment, excluding cooling and other facility systems.

Data Center Building: An individual physical facility within a data center campus.

Facility Power / Total Power: Total electrical demand for the facility, including IT equipment, cooling, lighting, and supporting infrastructure.

Hyperscale Data Center: A large facility designed to support substantial cloud, AI, or digital infrastructure workloads.

Land Bank: Land controlled for potential future development where a specific construction timeline may not yet exist.

Powered Shell: A building with power and core infrastructure installed but without a fully completed customer-specific data hall.

White Space: The area within a data center where servers, racks, and IT equipment are installed.

Grey Space: Areas containing supporting mechanical and electrical equipment.

PUE: Power Usage Effectiveness, calculated as total facility power divided by IT equipment power.

Project Stages and Dates

Construction Start Date: The estimated or confirmed date when meaningful physical construction begins.

Construction Completion Date: The date when major physical construction is substantially complete, which may occur before activation.

Delayed: A project that remains active but is progressing later than previously expected.

Operational: A facility that has entered service or is confirmed to be consuming power.

Site Clearing: Removal of vegetation, structures, or other obstacles before grading and construction.

Site Grading: Earthmoving activity undertaken to level and prepare a development site.

Vertical Construction: Construction activity involving the building structure above the foundation.

Commissioning: Testing and validation of electrical, mechanical, cooling, and operational systems before activation.

Cancelled / Withdrawn: A project that is no longer expected to proceed under its previously announced plan.

Power and Grid

Behind-the-Meter (BTM): Power generation located at or directly connected to the customer site and intended to supply onsite electricity demand.

Balancing Authority (BA): The organization responsible for balancing electricity supply and demand within a defined region.

Interconnection Queue: A list of projects requesting permission to connect to the electricity grid.

Interconnection Agreement: An agreement setting out the technical and commercial requirements for connecting a project to the grid.

ISO / RTO: Organizations that coordinate wholesale electricity markets and grid operations across defined regions.

Load: The amount of electricity consumed by a facility or group of facilities.

Megawatt (MW): A unit of electrical capacity equal to one million watts.

Nameplate Capacity: The maximum rated output of a power-generation asset under specified conditions.

On-Grid Generation: Generation connected to and supplying electricity through the broader power grid.

Power Purchase Agreement (PPA): A contract under which a buyer agrees to purchase electricity from a generation project.

Substation: Infrastructure used to transform voltage and connect facilities or generation assets to the grid.

Utility: The company responsible for distributing or supplying electricity within a service territory.

Power Generation

Battery Energy Storage System (BESS): A system that stores electricity for later use.

Combined Heat and Power (CHP): A system that produces electricity and useful thermal energy from the same fuel source.

Distributed Generation: Smaller-scale generation located near the point of electricity consumption.

Fuel Type: The primary energy source used by a generation project, such as natural gas, solar, wind, or hydrogen.

Gas Peaker Plant: A power plant designed to operate during periods of high electricity demand.

Reciprocating Engine: A combustion engine used to generate electricity, often for flexible or onsite generation.

Transmission Project: Infrastructure designed to move large amounts of electricity between regions or substations.

Turbine: Equipment that converts energy from gas, steam, wind, or water into mechanical and electrical power.

Industrial Developments

Capital Investment: The disclosed or estimated amount invested in a development project.

Developer: The company responsible for advancing, financing, or constructing a project.

Early Signal: An initial indicator of a potential development, such as land acquisition, permits, utility filings, or company disclosures.

Industrial Development: A major manufacturing, logistics, semiconductor, chemical, energy, or other industrial project.

Project Footprint: The estimated land or building area occupied by a development.

Site Control: Evidence that a developer owns, leases, or has an option over the project land.

Special Use Permit: Local approval allowing a land use that is not automatically permitted under existing zoning.

Zoning / Rezoning: The local land-use classification or process required to allow a proposed development.

Aterio Data Fields

Aterio Estimated Power: Aterio’s estimate of total facility power based on public information, building characteristics, satellite analysis, and proprietary models.

Estimated Date: A date derived from available evidence when no confirmed public date exists.

Execution Likelihood: Aterio’s assessment of the probability that a project will proceed based on available development signals.

Published Power: Power capacity publicly disclosed by a developer, utility, regulator, or another source.

Source URL: A public source supporting a project field, update, or event.

Unique ID: A persistent Aterio identifier assigned to a building, campus, company, or power project.

Inventory Table: The latest available record for each project, campus, or building.

Snapshot: A complete version of the dataset captured at a specific point in time.