The case
The interconnect approval queue decides who wins compute capacity — not GPUs. Undifferentiated 50 MW interconnect filings wait. You are not buying solar. You are buying an existing grid connection and filing a load the operator can say yes to. Texas (Pecos) is the worked example. The same two clocks exist on every grid: power out, and permission to pull power in after dark.
$150M/year on 50 MW firm. $333M/year on 111 MW firm. 154 MW flex is extra hours.
50 MW holds on the hottest design day. 54 MW is the modeled meter draw at PUE 1.08, not a site cap — versus 62.5 MW at PUE 1.25.
Use the generation permit you already have. Phase 3 is a residual plant — 50 MW inside an air permit that would refuse 54 MW of engines.
The problem
Hundreds of gigawatts of large-load filings look the same to the grid operator: a new 50 MW hall, a new line, new water, new air permits. The filing that moves reuses a connection already in service, stays under that market’s large-load threshold, takes power the grid would otherwise spill, and can run islanded if overnight service is slow. Texas is the named example. The same two clocks exist on every wholesale market.
Three propositions
Do not underwrite them as one platform. Each stands alone. Heat to electricity first. Engines last — that is what keeps air, noise, and water small enough to permit.
01 · Investable
Fifty acres of radiator tables on the fenceline you already have. Dry coolers stay as fail-safe. Cooling overlay on an existing interconnect: ~$30–45M to make 50 MW of firm IT contractable, against a planning offtake of $150M/year. A 10 MWdc plant against a named dry-cooler control is the first commercial step.
02 · Filing
TES/ORC, recovered server heat, and recovered-row CSP steel in the same re-module as the PV. Marginal megawatt-hours. The value is a filing the operator can tell from PV and batteries, a tighter environmental envelope, and the smaller engine Phase 3 is then allowed to be. Not in the base offtake.
03 · Option
A 54 MW engine yard often will not permit. TES/ORC first, so shaft is about 22 MW in summer and 28 MW in winter. That plant holds 50 MW when overnight service is delayed, or when combustion is the cap. Growth past 50 MW is recovered heat — 111 MW is the wire coming off, not a bigger stack. Combustion is a one-way door. Keep it last.
CFO
The booked case is Phase 1. The overlay is ~$30–45 million to make 50 MW of firm IT contractable, against a planning offtake of $150 million per year ($3M per MW-year, a planning value). Cooling on 10% of tables, not the whole array.
111 MW firm and 154 MW flex are options, not the base offtake. Phase 2 is the filing and the plumbing. Phase 3 is a residual engine plant: it holds 50 MW when overnight service is delayed, or when a 54 MW engine yard will not permit. 111 MW is the wire coming off, not a bigger stack.
EconomicsCTO
Midday surplus can run conventional chillers. After sunset there is no array to run them, and on the hottest afternoons dry coolers cannot reject 50 MWth. Phase 1 is the cooling overlay. Phase 2 plumbs TES/ORC — the filing, not a second offtake. Phase 3 is the residual plant: heat to electricity first, engines last.
Cooling & generationCounsel
A campus you already permit can host more IT — no new water right, no new chiller yard, same electrical envelope. Phase 2 is what counsel files: TES/ORC and recovered heat that a PV-and-battery overlay cannot show, and the residual engine Phase 3 is then allowed to be. If overnight grid service is slow, or a 54 MW engine yard will not permit, that residual plant (~22–28 MW) keeps 50 MW running. Growth past 50 MW is recovered heat, not a bigger stack.
PermittingWorked example · 100 MWdc existing PV · Pecos, Texas
Phase 1 is the underwritten case — grid-tied, cooling on 10% of tables, 50 MW of design-target 99.9% firm AI at the existing meter. Remaining PV stays generation. Leftover acres can take Phase 2 CSP steel on concrete rail. TES/ORC is Phase 2: the filing, not a second offtake. Phase 3 is a residual engine plant: it holds 50 MW if overnight service is delayed, or if a 54 MW yard will not permit. 111 MW is the interconnect coming off, not a bigger stack.
Design-target 99.9% firm AI. Cooling on 10% of tables. Remaining PV stays generation. First commercial plant.
Option, not the base case. TES/ORC and CSP after Phase 1. Phase 3 is a residual plant — heat to electricity first, engines last.
Not firm. Extra AI hours when weather and storage allow. Book 111 MW firm; 154 MW is the upside.
Starting plant is 100 MWdc on the same land. Re-module keeps 100 MWdc of PV on a denser pad. Fifty acres convert to radiator tables. Leftover acres can take Phase 2 CSP steel. TES/ORC is Phase 2. Engines are last.
$150M / year — Phase 1 firm
50 MW of design-target 99.9% firm AI × $3M per MW-year planning value. A planning year, not a live meter.
$333M / year — 111 MW firm
Option on the same land. Same $3M rate. Not in the Phase 1 offtake.
154 MW peak / flexible
Not a second firm contract. Extra hours. Do not book at $3M per MW-year.
Phase 3 is a residual engine plant. TES/ORC runs first, so shaft is about 22 MW in summer and 28 MW in winter — not 54, and not 62.5 if the hall were chilled. That is the plant air, noise, and water will consider. It holds 50 MW when overnight service is delayed, or when a 54 MW engine yard would not permit. 111 MW firm is the interconnect coming off, and only if that residual plant still permits. Recovered heat, not a bigger stack. Not in the Phase 1 offtake.
Eight-day Pecos screen on the radiator campus: 50 MW firm served in the window, PV held at 100 MWdc, 50 acres reserved for tables. A full-year radiator-campus run is not yet the published design target. Prior whole-field radial year is not this plant. A 10 MWdc pilot — about 5 MW of firm IT — is the step that validates hot-day performance, parasitic demand, and ground-temperature behavior at commercial scale.
