CLIENT-OWNED SUBSTATIONS ACCELERATE CAMPUS DEVELOPMENT
When a global co-location provider faced utility delays stretching five years or more, they made a decision that would have seemed radical just a decade ago: take ownership of electrical infrastructure traditionally owned and operated by utilities. Black & Veatch was selected to build substations at six expanding data centre locations, allowing the client to control construction schedules and costs while enabling utilities to connect directly with transmission lines. The approach cut campus construction timelines by half or more, demonstrating how infrastructure ownership can become a competitive advantage when traditional approaches fail to meet business requirements.
Water scarcity and sustainability Water usage in data centres once followed a simple logic: use what you need for cooling, discharge the rest and pay the bill. AI workloads have made that approach untenable: generating heat loads that would overwhelm traditional cooling systems. But the challenge goes deeper than technical requirements: touching on community resources, environmental sustainability and public perception in ways that can catch operators unprepared.
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