Data Center Development Services
Powerful partnerships
Data center developers and associated power generators are under intense pressure to build quickly for a number of strategic, financial, and competitive reasons including:
• Speed-to-market advantage in a rapidly growing market
• Escalating demand for AI and Cloud services
• Tenant demand and pre-leasing commitments
• Investor expectations
• Utility and grid constraints
• Competitive land and fiber access
• Regulatory and incentive windows
• Client migration timelines
We understand these drive your need to have engineering consultants who serve as your trusted partner to analyze project alternatives and move projects forward quickly and effectively.
Who we are
CEC is an engineering and environmental consulting firm with more than 1,500 team members in offices nationwide. We understand the challenges behind data center site selection and design –including power, water, cooling, and permitting regulations – and we provide a range of support services from conceptual and master planning through facility operation.
Where we are
Prepurchase Agreement Services
CEC helps business, legal, investment, and financial stakeholder clients identify, quantify, and resolve complex environmental compliance and liability issues, as well as review and quantify facility asset capital and operation & maintenance obligations to protect value. CEC provides services during the business investment cycle with due diligence tailored to meet individual stakeholder needs while assessing opportunities to acquire assets and provide engineering and compliance services. These services may include:
• Assessment of Environmental Liabilitiesassess fair market value assumptions for management, legal, and financial advisors to fulfill reporting obligations
• Purchase Price Allocation - assess fair market value of environmental liabilities and asset retirement obligations before a transaction to assess value assumptions
Critical Issues Analysis
Before you negotiate a project site with the landowner, CEC taps its vast network of knowledge, data, and contacts to provide early-stage project development services to help you qualify and compare prospective sites. Key services include a feasibility and fatal flaw desktop analysis of the following areas, which could potentially limit development:
• Wetlands and Floodplains
• Threatened and Endangered Species
• Preliminary Cultural Resources
• Environmental Conditions (Phase I ESA)
• State/Local Land Ordinances and Zoning
• Topography
• Sight Distances
• Utility Load/Water Evaluation
• Permitting Requirements
• Brownfields, Mine Lands, Landfills, and other NonGreenfields
• Geohazards
Field Investigation Services
CEC also offers several field investigation services that provide you with boots-ontheground information you can use for planning purposes.
• Streams & Wetlands (including delineations)
• Threatened & Endangered Species Surveys
• Cultural Resources
• Environmental Conditions (Phase I/II ESA)
• Geospatial Conditions (Topographic, ALTA, Subsurface Utility, and Boundary Surveys)
• Property Condition Assessments (including structural and foundations assessments to support data center loading)
• Geotechnical Conditions
Design & Permitting
Challenges associated with local ordinances, state and federal regulations, community concerns, and design constraints have the potential to impact data center development projects. CEC works with stakeholders to help you develop and navigate productive strategies. CEC provides the following services to help streamline the design and permitting process.
• Civil Engineering
• Environmental Permitting
• Air Quality Permitting
• Water Management Planning
• Geotechnical Engineering
• Land Use Permitting and Variances
• Erosion and Sediment Control
• Stormwater Management
• Landscape Architecture and Visual Screening
• Public/Community Outreach
Construction-Phase Services
CEC understands that the success of a data center development project hinges on maintaining schedule, efficiency, and cost control during the late stages of a project. From bidding to project closeout, CEC helps you maximize project return on investment with construction-phase services such as:
• Management Support
• Details and Bid Specifications
• Inspection, Oversight, and Monitoring
• Materials Testing and Oversight
• As-built Surveys
• Environmental Remediation
Data Center Complex
Preliminary Design
Services
Carbon Node East
Development
Carbon County, PA
CEC has completed preliminary design and is now providing final design services associated with a 300-MW data center complex. The project includes land surveying, site work, grading, drainage, postconstruction stormwater management, threatened & endangered species, and Chapter 105 permitting.
Coal-Fired Power Plant
Conversion
Data Center & AI
Hyper-Scaling Facility
Site Selection & Design
Confidential Client
Western PA
CEC is involved in the planning stages of converting a former coalfired power plant to a natural gas-fueled power plant to support a 185-acre data center development.
Allegheny
DC Property Co.
Springdale, PA
CEC evaluated potential environmental liabilities associated with redeveloping a former coal-fired power plant. This included assessing fair market values for advisory services and estimating asset-retirement obligations prior to the transaction. CEC is now preparing a preliminary site design for county land development approval.
200-MW Data Center
Site Development
Confidential Client
Northeast PA
CEC has been working on the adjacent power station and coordinating with a national architectural firm that specializes in data center design to mitigate site constraints and optimize the existing infrastructure. CEC will develop a full set of design documents for submission to regulatory agencies.
