Large Load Power Diligence
The problem. A large load project spends money on land, engineering and utility studies before anyone knows who can serve the site, on what terms, or whether the power is there. A big substation nearby looks like an answer and is not one. Much of what matters is learned from the utility, after the money is spent.
What you get. Bring a location, and you get what is already settled there, what is still open, and the questions to take to the utility. Bring a load requirement, and you get the grid locations worth a closer look.
Why it helps. You drop weak sites before spending on them, and your first utility meeting starts on the questions that decide the project.
Coverage. Any location in the United States, in all seven organized markets and in the utility-run systems outside them.
What a map will not tell you
Most of what decides a large load project is not on a map, and some of what is on a map looks like an answer and is not.
A 345 kV substation nearby does not establish available capacity.
A marketed 600 MW substation does not establish that 600 MW is available to a new customer.
Transmission investment near a site may already be committed to serving another load.
Tafel separates what the public record settles from what only the utility can answer, so the money goes to sites where the open questions are the right ones.
Every answer tracked on its own
Once the utility or counterparty responds, each answer is tracked independently.
A project never receives one blanket confirmed label.
| Question | Status |
|---|---|
| Incremental MW | Confirmed |
| Initial energization | Confirmed |
| Full-load energization | Asked, no answer yet |
| Required upgrades | Confirmed |
| Customer contribution | Counterparty declined to state |
| Delivery voltage | Confirmed |
| Study fee | Not yet asked |
| Curtailment requirements | Not yet asked |
An unanswered question stays visible.
A refusal stays a refusal.
An unasked question cannot silently become an assumption.
That matters because a utility may confirm one part of the project and remain silent on another.
Tafel Find: where to look
The service has two halves: Tafel Find for where to look, and Tafel Diligence for what is settled at a location you choose.
Start with:
- Load size
- Geography
- Target energization date
- Phasing
Tafel Find starts from the power system, and land search follows the shortlist. Candidates come back in three groups.
Investigate now. The serving structure and commercial pathway are sufficiently established that the remaining questions belong with the utility or other counterparty.
Resolve first. The location may be worth investigating, but something has to be settled first, often who has the right to serve it or how a greenfield load will be treated commercially.
Out of scope. No serving utility can be identified at the location.
A location is never promoted simply because it looks electrically attractive.
Nearby transmission, high voltage and system investment are reasons to investigate. They are not proof that incremental megawatts are available.
In our own screening, at many locations the serving utility was known and its tariff had been read, and the public record still did not say how a new load of this size with no operating history would be treated. That question decides the project, and it is the first one to take to the utility.
The result is not a score. It is a list of what has to be resolved next.
Tafel Diligence: what is settled here
For a chosen location, Tafel establishes four things.
Serving structure
- Serving utility
- Transmission owner where relevant
- Market
- Regulator
- Whether the serving assignment is resolved or still needs confirmation
Commercial pathway
- Applicable tariff or negotiated pathway
- Eligibility
- Contract term
- Minimum billing
- Security
- Curtailment
- Cost responsibility
- Notice requirements
Power economics
Where components are established, Tafel identifies:
- Energy
- Transmission
- Capacity
- Network charges
- Delivery charges
- Other applicable components
Only comparable components are compared.
An incomplete dollar-per-megawatt-hour stack is not ranked against a dollar-per-kilowatt-month demand charge or against a negotiated price that has not been established.
Grid context
Tafel also shows the infrastructure and development activity around the location, including:
- High-voltage infrastructure
- Transmission activity
- Customer-driven transmission work
- Major system additions or retirements
- Other factors relevant to the next development decision
None of this is converted into an assumed available-megawatt figure.
What still has to be confirmed
These questions remain visible rather than being folded into a score. They become the request pack for the appropriate counterparty, which may be the serving utility, the transmission owner or the market operator depending on the question.
- How many incremental megawatts can be served?
- When can initial load energize?
- When can full load energize?
- What delivery voltage is required?
- What point of interconnection will be used?
- Which upgrades are required?
- What does the customer have to fund?
- What study cost or deposit applies?
- How is a greenfield load with no operating history treated commercially?
- What curtailment or operating restrictions attach?
Tafel also separates the questions that are already settled so the first utility conversation can focus on what actually remains unresolved.
A 500 MW example
A developer needs 500 MW with phased energization beginning in 2029. Tafel identifies a candidate grid location and works it through to a defined next step.
What Tafel establishes. The serving utility and market. The applicable commercial pathway. The known commercial obligations, including term, minimum billing, security and cost responsibility. The relevant grid context around the location.
What remains. Incremental megawatts. Initial and full load dates. Required upgrades. Customer contribution. Study cost. And how a greenfield load with no operating history is treated commercially, which in several markets the governing tariff does not say.
Next gate. Take the defined 500 MW request to the serving utility.
Each answer that comes back is tracked on its own as confirmed, asked, declined or not yet asked.
Coverage
Any US location. Bring a single site or a whole region, in any of the seven organized markets or the utility-run systems outside them.
Where a utility does not publish its large load terms, we say so, and that becomes the first question for the utility.
This does not replace the utility study. It gets you to the study with the right sites and the right questions.