Data Center & Power Glossary

Generating power on-site (gas, solar, storage) so a facility runs independent of — or alongside — the utility grid, sidestepping the interconnection queue.

DC Hub's plain-English market verdict derived from the DCPI score: BUILD = grid-ready, CAUTION = constrained, AVOID = scarce power / long delays.

Renting space, power, and cooling in a third-party data center for your equipment.

Data center with extremely high network carrier density, serving as major interconnection point.

Physical cable connecting two customers or a customer to a carrier within a facility.

DC Hub's 0–100 score ranking a market's data-center build-readiness from grid headroom, time-to-power, and constraint. Higher = more build-ready; surfaced as a BUILD / CAUTION / AVOID verdict across 300+ markets.

Withdrawn 2026-08-08, restored 2026-08-30. DC Hub's 0–100 per-state score for natural-gas suitability for data-center siting (gas access + delivered cost), the gas analog to DCPI. An internal audit found the 20-point interstate-share term scored ~0 for all 53 published states (a case mismatch against EIA's capitalised TYPEPIPE values) and the 40%-weighted cost term was a hardcoded constant for nine states including Texas. All three terms were repaired and the index was restored 2026-08-30 — but a figure published before 2026-08-08 came from a different index and must not be compared with one published now (see /api/v1/dcgi/methodology, corrections). The gas-fired $/MWh remains withdrawn: that is a separate, unfixed defect.

Available generation or grid capacity in a location with low current demand — attractive headroom for new data-center load.

The share of electricity generation by source (gas, nuclear, coal, wind, solar, hydro) on a grid at a point in time.

Spare capacity on the local grid available for new large loads before transmission upgrades are required.

The public US federal dataset of infrastructure — substations, transmission lines, pipelines — DC Hub overlays on its Land & Power map.

Massive data centers (100MW+) built by cloud giants with custom infrastructure.

Configuration separating hot exhaust and cold intake air for efficient cooling.

Physical location where networks connect to exchange traffic directly.

Direct private connections between networks, carriers, or clouds within a data center.

The waitlist of generation and large-load projects seeking grid connection; its depth is the main driver of time-to-power.

The operators that run regional US power grids — PJM, ERCOT, MISO, CAISO, SPP, NYISO, ISO-NE — and clear their wholesale electricity markets.

Unit of power (1,000 watts). Colocation is typically priced per kW.

Unit of energy (1 kW for 1 hour). Used for utility billing.

Time delay for data to travel between points, measured in milliseconds (ms).

Cooling method bringing coolant directly to servers/chips for high-density AI workloads.

The wholesale price of electricity at a specific grid node, reflecting generation cost plus local transmission congestion.

Unit of power (1,000 kW). Large data centers measured in MW capacity.

Room where carriers and customers interconnect their networks.

Wholesale capacity pricing unit for data-center / colocation power.

Having one more component than required so one can fail without impact.

Fully duplicating all critical components for fault tolerance.

Ratio of total facility power to IT power. 1.0 is perfect; 1.2 excellent; 1.6 average.

Device distributing power to servers in a rack, often with monitoring.

A long-term contract to buy power (often renewable) at a set price; common for hyperscale data centers.

A completed data-center building delivered with power and cooling infrastructure but no IT fit-out.

A site with secured utility power / substation access, ready for data-center development.

A grid operator that manages transmission and the wholesale market across a multi-state region — see ISO / RTO.

Facility that steps transmission voltage down for distribution; proximity to one is a key driver of time-to-power.

Uptime Institute's 4-tier system: Tier 1 (basic) to Tier 4 (fault-tolerant).

Estimated months from breaking ground to energized grid service in a market — a core DCPI input.

Battery system providing instant backup power during outages until generators start.

Large-scale (1MW+) colo with dedicated space, lower rates, longer terms.

Liters of water used per kWh of IT energy. Lower is better.