Andy Montgomery and Eric McCarthey (American Local Harvest) with Nick. Conference: Andy presented on the Innovate Stage at YOTA (7 minute pitch, 3 minute Q&A, audience vote) and won the audience vote; inbound interest followed, including a call that afternoon with an Arizona prospect (possibly skipping the POC), another later in the week and ongoing contact with Goldman Sachs. Funder…
- Begin outreach for mothballed CEA farms built in the last 5 years that failed on energy costs; overlay grid access and power availability
- Nick starts a shared working document on site criteria (power, 11 kV transformer interconnect, farm size, MW thresholds)
- Loop in Chuck (Tryon Advisory) on the mothballed farm search
- Book a follow up call later this week
Granola captured room audio only; the call itself was not recorded.
Andrew Thomas (Acculon Energy) with Nick and Sancha on Ohio One. Deal: land priced at $127M on megawatts rather than acreage, adjusting down if the November load study shows fewer megawatts; pass through cost model, likely cost plus 8% at this scale. Vertiv as end to end partner (manufacture, supply, build, commission) with MicroLink on power, site development and civils;…
- Nick adds Andrew to the Vertiv / NVIDIA / Anthropic joint meeting
- Nick sends Andrew the Tribal lands webinar registration link
- Pursue a construction company as capital and execution partner (Cornick Cozing meeting next week)
- Nick meets USP&E VP next week on JV and pre funding engineering
Lauren Davis, CBRE data center brokerage (9 person team; capital markets, land, agency leasing and tenant rep; active in about 15 states), working with end users seeking capacity over the next 2 years; the market is shifting from 2027 to 2028 capacity. Ohio One: LOI nearly in place; 420 to 450 MW grid to be confirmed by the November load…
- Lauren sends NDA (received 9 Oct)
- Data room access once NDA signed
- Send supplier delivery letter updated for 200 MW
- Revert within a week on 150 to 200 MW feasibility in 2028 for a CBRE tenant
Chris Morris (CM Innovations) with Nick and Sancha on the Ohio One site layout. Site price $127M on megawatt access rather than acreage; 30 MW today, buying a 425 MW site, price adjusts proportionally if the November load study comes in below 425 MW. Chris's site analysis: an interactive map with moveable buildings over Google Maps. Access: S Reiman Rd…
- Chris pitches Project Skippy next week
- Chris sends an Emberline vs ORC one pager (capex, opex, revenue, heat value)
- Chris checks pellet fuel compatibility with Emberline; Nick emails the pellet company details
- Chris sends Monday times
Nick and Heath Andersen (DC Design Africa). Lagos build: build as needed, gas supply and generators first, racks later. Permitting via an air permit and approvals specialist. Land priced per megawatt; the Ohio contract locks price for 3 months and adjusts if the load study comes back under 450 MW. Meetings with Volta that evening and Crusoe the week of…
- Reach out to Seb for investor introductions
- Add MNDA and title deed information to the data room
- Confirm correct DOE office terminology before the Tribal leaders meeting
- Send Heath the image rendering template once final
Michael Ahern, Ever-Green Energy: operator and manager of district energy systems across the US (12+ sites), source agnostic (CHP, wastewater capture, geothermal, gas and oil); focus on a visible US data center heat recovery showcase. Knows Mark Worthington (Salas O'Brien). Oberlin College: target building is Hales (1937/38), vacant and in disrepair, retained by the donor family; the geothermal pipes run…
- Nick sends proposal concepts with renderings early next week (1.25 MW pod vs public benefit LLC)
- Michael raises data center heat recovery with the college sustainability and facilities leads
- Michael walks Carla through Ever-Green's ownership structures
Nick presented MicroLink (builder, owner, operator; 50 MW to 800 MW with a 1.25 MW block; heat recovery and mixed use campus; NYSERDA 30 kW edge pilot; the five paper academic series led by Laura Schaefer at Rice) and the portfolio: Ohio One (50 MW Q1 2028 then 400 MW, grid plus gas, 420 MW utility to be confirmed in…
- Nick sends a full overview before Monday (customer list, data center relationships, key sites, deck)
- Nick schedules a follow up with broader teams on Ohio aquifer fit and Philadelphia thermal offset
- Nick invites Haley & Aldrich to an academic paper series guest session
JLL (Roman Kuropas, Dave Lange) sees a strong fit for the 1.25 MW pod across its asset classes; Roman had presented stranded and excess power opportunities to Deutsche Bank asset managers the day before; JLL's distributed compute and edge mandate is heavy right now. Pod scales 1.25 MW to 5 MW, then 5 to 50 MW; transformers and infrastructure to…
- MicroLink sends JLL cooling range and rack density options for the 1.25 MW pod
- MicroLink shares a pod proposal or product overview (update the older IDEA proposal with current specs and delivery)
- Proposal covers GPU as a service and customer supplied GPU, with the NVIDIA angle
- Roman puts the rack density question to his offtaker
Vultr capacity requests: 7 MW air cooled CPU deployment for a Vultr customer, 50% (3.5 MW) in Q4 2026 and the rest Q1 2027, US sites only; a second request of 150 MW deployed through 2027, GPU or CPU to be confirmed by Dave; a possible third opportunity of up to 1 GW, non US locations acceptable, early stage. Nick…
- Nick shares the Ohio One deck and data room documents with Dave
- Nick confirms NDA status (both sides believe it was exchanged)
- Nick prepares 2 to 3 slides on the steam flood use case before the next call
- Biweekly calls; Nick sends times, Thursday at the same time preferred
Elisah Vandenbussche, DOE Office of Indian Energy, with Nick, Carla and Sancha. Her office focuses on Tribal data center engagement: 575 sovereign governments in the US, about 80 Tribes in DOE's cohort. Work: answering early questions, connecting Tribes with developers, supporting regulatory frameworks. Tribal concerns: land impact, resource rights, benefit sharing, sovereignty aligned development. Tribes range from writing regulations from…
- Attend or send a team member to the Palm Springs convening, 22 Oct; Elisah sends details
- Register for the DOE Tribal webinar, 9 Oct, and circulate
- Nick connects Carla with Elisah for a follow up
Anamaria (aberea@gmu.edu), co founder and co director of a new Space Center at George Mason University. Current work: an astrobiology project on social signatures hosted by the University of St Andrews (a cross species database of social behaviors linked to detecting life with current telescopes); whale and dolphin conservation; decoding ancient languages; presenting at Oxford (Breakthrough Listen group) in about…
- Anamaria asks her GMU department for data center researchers (sociology, anthropology, computation)
- Nick follows up on paper series contributors once she has asked around
Karl Lany and James Keck (Onterris) with Nick and Sancha. Pipeline covered: CenTrio Chicago (distributed network across 10 downtown buildings for distributed training); Oberlin (small campus data center about 160 km (100 mi) from the main site); Vicinity Philadelphia (contingent on power); NYSERDA pilot (agreement being finalized); collective compute consortium (Yale, MIT, Harvard, BU, UMass, Northwestern), meeting 12 Oct. Ohio…
- Nick shares data room access links; James and Karl register for the partner and technical sites
- Karl and James send an initial scope proposal
- Nick schedules a follow up next week with the broader Onterris team
Belden design review. Ohio One confirmed as priority site: pitched to Anthropic Monday, NVIDIA HQ meeting with Anthropic, NVIDIA and Vertiv aimed for November; LOI on the land, final draft sent, signing in 2 to 3 weeks then a 30 day window to full contract; November load study must confirm 420 MW utility; customer signed at 420 with expansion to…
- Master contact list for Ohio One
- Approve Belden data room access
- Share heat reuse partner list with Kate
- Henry sends Hamilton Stelco article
Earth Foundry: seed stage industrial and climate investor since 2013, initial checks around $1M, evergreen first fund backed by utilities, second fund end 2023. Nick pitched builder owner operator model, Ohio One, CenTrio Chicago distributed site, Vicinity Philadelphia, NYSERDA edge pilot, $3M seed equity plus pilot debt, $12 to $14M per MW pilot, $10 to $11M at scale. Henry Heitzer…
- Check size about $1M initially
- Asked to quantify speed advantage and cost per MW
- Henry: refine core value proposition
- EF to debrief and revert
Intro via IDEA (Scott Szycher). Mark Worthington, hydrogeologist at Salas O'Brien, presented the NLR (ex NREL) phase 1 study: 100 MW thermal data center, 1,000 bores 20 ft apart, about 250 m deep, seasonal storage cut chiller use to about 3% of load; about 1,550 bores or 60 to 65 MW load for zero chillers. Open loop aquifer storage can…
- Mark sends NDA
- Next call next week Mon/Tue/Wed
- UIC Class 5 registration
- Scott wants logo and 100 words
Intro via IDEA (Scott Szycher). Mark Worthington, hydrogeologist at Salas O'Brien, presented the NLR (ex NREL) phase 1 study: 100 MW thermal data center, 1,000 bores 20 ft apart, about 250 m deep, seasonal storage cut chiller use to about 3% of load; about 1,550 bores or 60 to 65 MW load for zero chillers. Open loop aquifer storage can…
- Mark sends NDA
- Next call next week Mon/Tue/Wed
- UIC Class 5 registration
- Scott wants logo and 100 words
Aditi (TysonsDC) has off-takers and powered land (US East Coast Washington to New York strip, Texas, UK SPV with 10 sites, UAE, India). A 50 MW East Coast site expandable to 400 with a client wanting Rubin capacity in Q2; full EPC team, claims 50 MW in 5 months; targets $8 to $9M per MW. Wants a full time technical…
- 50/50 SPV offer
- 50 MW East Coast site to 400, Q2 client
- Wants full time on site technical PM
- Nick to come back 7 Oct
Earth Foundry: seed stage industrial and climate investor since 2013, initial checks around $1M, evergreen first fund backed by utilities, second fund end 2023. Nick pitched builder owner operator model, Ohio One, CenTrio Chicago distributed site, Vicinity Philadelphia, NYSERDA edge pilot, $3M seed equity plus pilot debt, $12 to $14M per MW pilot, $10 to $11M at scale. Henry Heitzer…
- Check size about $1M initially
- Asked to quantify speed advantage and cost per MW
- Henry: refine core value proposition
- EF to debrief and revert
Convergen (Green Bay) makes engineered fuel pellets from industrial byproducts, about 11,500 BTU/lb, drop in for solid fuel boilers with steam turbines. 50 MW block is a sweet spot, 250 MW doable. Avoids gas pipeline and turbine backlog. Fit for Ohio One behind the meter baseload and for repurposing CenTrio Chicago boilers (feasible with caveats).
- Swap NDAs and schedule follow-up next week
- Explore Convergen as the generation answer for the NVIDIA public sector conversation
- Visit Convergen's Green Bay facility
Series framed as community centered data centers with a community benefit index. Ohio LOI, Chicago distributed DC, Oberlin, thermal technologies (Rondo, caloric, Alfa Laval 70 degC). Vertiv (Rob Feeley, Greg Lehman) joined last 20 minutes: Greg Ratcliffe as key speaker, Russ Tipton on ORC. Joint NVIDIA, Anthropic, Vertiv call targeted end of next week.
- Share Google Drive folder with Laura (Nick)
- Send Greg Lehman session times in writing (Nick)
- Laura to reach out to candidate contributors
- Explore inviting Jimby (NVIDIA public sector)
Ohio scaling model and logistics; two stage absorption cooling not yet solved; pilot at 1.25 MW. Singapore as gateway: subsidiary or joint entity; 200 MW Singapore estimated $2.5 to 3B. Nick in Lagos from next week for about three weeks.
- Follow-up call with Lion AI mid week of 7 Oct
- Pull together structuring materials
- Consult Dennis on capital structure and Singapore entity
Distributed DC thesis; Chicago as proof point with Google as preferred anchor; JLL has Midwest Google mandates. JLL mapping buildings in and next to the CenTrio loop. Commercial framework deferred.
- Roman to schedule follow-up with broader JLL team
- Dave and Roman to shortlist priority Chicago sites
- Nick to plan a Chicago visit within about three weeks
Replay: bare metal GPU as a service, 64 B300/GB300 servers per site, about 1.2 to 1.5 MW, 20 racks, targeting about 3 cents/kWh. Oberlin discussed (about 2 MW). Wants to own servers.
- Source US hosting space and server leads for Replay
- Follow up with Chris by Friday 2 Oct
Sage EGS: 4 to 5 km, 150 degC minimum, 50 acres per MW, $7 to 8M per MW at scale, 50 MW blocks. Interconnection is the unsolved problem. Lev cautious on LiBr absorption in field conditions. Laramie landowner site flagged.
- Lev to share Sage deck
- Nick to introduce Lev to the Laramie landowner
DG Matrix (Raleigh NC) multi port solid state transformer: six galvanically isolated ports, acts as UPS, microgrid controller and STATCOM, AC today and 800 VDC ready. 400 kW units, 3.2 MVA skid most common (2 to 4.8 MVA). Lead time about 6 months plus 2 to 3 months integration (Faith Technologies, PowerSecure, Origin); POs about 12 months ahead. Efficiency mid…
- Put an NDA in place
- Single line diagram for a specific site, Bethlehem 8 MW or Chicago
- Pricing after the NDA
- Possible NVIDIA involvement on 800 VDC
Green Era runs a community anaerobic digester campus in Chicago (RNG to grid, compost, Argonne partnership, Chicago Prize). Phase 2 greenhouses planned. A newly bought building has an open barn at the back offered as a possible data centre location; the campus is adjacent to a substation with a cell tower on site. Digester runs 37 to 40 degC; Nathaniel…
- Green Era to email the group and share their deck
- Nick to prepare a pitch for a meeting next week or the week after
- Community compute access and public benefit structure raised
GreenCape reported the City of Cape Town has a data centre task committee drafting a guideline document, pushing treated effluent for cooling, not yet engaging private sector. Nick positioned Cape Town as a place for development work, training and pilots rather than the city as a customer; explained closed loop cooling uses little water and ERE. Offered an EY social…
- Marielle to ask the city about an advisory conversation
- Nick to send notes by email
- EY intro offered
Nexalus (Skibbereen, Ireland) designs chip level liquid cooling with targeted micro jets, 55 to 60 degC out, about 0.2 bar, a micro pump per server pulling from a header, 90 percent plus heat recovery; manufactures through Alps Alpine; works with Intel, Dell, HPE, 9 of 11 F1 teams. Designing 20 ft and 40 ft modular containers. NRE guide about $250k…
- Cathal to send an NDA
- One page MOU, no legal ties
- Pick up next week
- Cathal in Columbus, Ohio in the next couple of weeks
Nick updated DGA on Genoa, Oberlin, CenTrio Chicago and the academic paper series (policy paper invited). DGA walked the proposal: New York stakeholder mapping around NYSERDA, ERE adoption beyond New York, a national case study, and an ongoing policy landscape. Discussion of post moratorium policy and Virginia EO 22.
- DGA sent proposal and slides after the call
- Sancha reviewing; MicroLink to send comments by email
- Focus states Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York; Texas outlier
ALH asked how the $50M proof of concept is split and whether the pilot is off grid. Nick: three 1.25 MW pilots at $15M each plus $5M; utility or gas, with a mandate not to raise local prices. Eric proposed one NewCo, possibly a public benefit LLC with community ownership, to avoid a fragmented raise. Working figure $15M data centre…
- ALH to send a half page on structure
- Public benefit LLC NewCo to be drafted
- Andy to loop in Matt Lohr on city governance
Nick walked Vertiv through NYSERDA school pilot (30 kW), Ohio One (30 MW grid start, 750 target), Oberlin, Philadelphia and a 21 MW distributed Chicago project. Anthony Hoo presented the OneCore design: shell built by the GC, skids prefabricated at Pelzer SC, SmartRuns, CDU at the pod, MaxLPS design verified by NVIDIA, 250 MW cores. Anthropic visited Pelzer last week.
- Ohio One ranked first, then a 2.5 MW pilot, Oberlin, Philadelphia, NYSERDA last
- Vertiv recommends building a 750 site as three 250 MW cores
- Vertiv to share a RACI matrix and AI Hub link
- Credit app and terms ongoing; in person meeting after the Ohio One proposal
No Anthropic agreement on MicroLink's side. Energi Acres say Anthropic took over a Meta lease in Kentucky. Mansfield: FirstEnergy detailed load study back, 100 MW from the grid in 20 to 30 months on a 3.2 km (2 mile) radial tap plus substation under $10M; beyond 100 MW needs 5 to 7 years of upgrades on the 138 kV line.…
- Taimur asks FirstEnergy for the rate on Monday
- Offtake LOI or PPA needed before financial security
- Nick sends Pennsylvania site introductions
- Possible Anthropic re engagement
First academic paper series call with Laura Schaefer (Rice, on sabbatical at Imperial), Nenad Miljkovic (Illinois, directs ACRC, now department chair), Heath Andersen and Sancha; Carlos Romero (Lehigh) did not join. Laura is willing to lead the series within her field, with paper leads per topic. Fortnightly cadence agreed. Laura's strategic framework V3 heading to V4: chip level extraction, thermal…
- Nick builds the invitee spreadsheet
- Nick emails each person for a preferred time
- Nick runs a literature gap scan
- Laura sends framework V4 with references
First academic paper series call with Laura Schaefer (Rice, on sabbatical at Imperial), Nenad Miljkovic (Illinois, directs ACRC, now department chair), Heath Andersen and Sancha; Carlos Romero (Lehigh) did not join. Laura is willing to lead the series within her field, with paper leads per topic. Fortnightly cadence agreed. Laura's strategic framework V3 heading to V4: chip level extraction, thermal…
- Nick builds the invitee spreadsheet
- Nick emails each person for a preferred time
- Nick runs a literature gap scan
- Laura sends framework V4 with references
First academic paper series call with Laura Schaefer (Rice, on sabbatical at Imperial), Nenad Miljkovic (Illinois, directs ACRC, now department chair), Heath Andersen and Sancha; Carlos Romero (Lehigh) did not join. Laura is willing to lead the series within her field, with paper leads per topic. Fortnightly cadence agreed. Laura's strategic framework V3 heading to V4: chip level extraction, thermal…
- Nick builds the invitee spreadsheet
- Nick emails each person for a preferred time
- Nick runs a literature gap scan
- Laura sends framework V4 with references
Ohio site: 30 MW grid, 400 MW gas, 750 MW full build in 3 phases; land ask $110M at $220K/acre flagged as rich; Vertiv 50 MW and 250 MW power blocks; MicroLink builder, owner, operator. ORC turns 55 degC output into cold water at 30% for cold storage and food processing; 3 indoor farms plus food processing at Ohio. Ed…
- Ed shares SOFC documentation ahead of Nick's Centrica meeting
- Longer follow up next week on marketing and SOFC integration
- Ed writes to Panattoni about Project Buckhorn
Deep Green: 1 live UK site (400 kW), 3 in development; UK power 20+ p/kWh so focus is sovereign, low latency local demand; US expansion decided 18 months ago. Design standard 200 kW/rack in 2 MW blocks. US experience: community opposition is the primary risk even with supportive local government; Lansing, Michigan paused on political pressure; North Carolina lost to…
- Nick sends Ohio site materials and zoning status to Mark
- Align technical teams on one shared site; Ohio likely, sized up
- Sancha joins the next session with Deep Green technical leads
Replay: bare metal GPU as a service, 64 B300/GB300 servers per site, about 1.2 to 1.5 MW, 20 racks, targeting about 3 cents/kWh. Oberlin discussed (about 2 MW). Wants to own servers.
- Source US hosting space and server leads for Replay
- Follow up with Chris by Friday 2 Oct