The water, the heat and the obligations of a site, written down before design starts.
A ladder of desk-based studies for data-centre developers and operators, EPC and environmental consultancies, utilities and heat networks: from a cited obligations brief for one site to a feasibility study with an engineer of record. Cooling water and heat reuse are judged by an engineer; every regulation line carries its citation. Fixed price, quoted after a short scoping call.
How the work is done
- Desk-based, worldwide
- Every line cited
- Analysis, not advice
- Engineer-reviewed
- Tamper-evident revision trail
- Engineer of record where a seal is needed
The problem
Heat rejection and water use decide where a data centre can be built and what it owes once it runs, and the rules now carry dates: heat-reuse quotas in Germany, energy and water reporting across the EU, cost-benefit duties above a megawatt, state water bills in the US, supplier letters for UK growth zones. The obligations sit across water, discharge, planning and energy law, differ by jurisdiction, and move. The ladder maps them first, with their sources, so the site and the design start from what is actually required.
The dates are set by law, not by the project
Reuse quotas, reporting days and cost-benefit deadlines arrive whether or not the design is ready. A brief that names them, with sources, is cheaper than finding them at permitting.
Water is assumed
A site is chosen for power and fibre; the water to reject heat is assumed. Abstraction limits, effluent options and seasonal constraints surface later.
Heat has nowhere to go
Rejected heat is worth little on its own. Its value is in the obligation it discharges and the off-taker it reaches: a heat network, a greenhouse, a digester.
The rules move
Germany is consulting on relaxing its reuse duty; US states file new water bills each session. What a site needs is the change, matched to its profile, not a summary that was true last year.
What you walk away with
The products, in plain words.
- Obligation & Siting Brief: one site, desk-based. The obligations that apply, with citations and the authority behind each, and the water and heat options (effluent cooling, heat to a network, a greenhouse or a digester), reviewed by an engineer, with a tamper-evident revision trail.
- Water & Heat Siting Pack: a two-week desk study of cooling-water options, the consent path, a first thermal screen, heat off-taker matches and the supplier-letter checklist UK AI Growth Zone and US state-rule applicants need.
- Site Dossier: deeper water-body, thermal-screen and permit-route work, with a written cooling-water and heat off-taker judgement.
- Feasibility study, with a partner engineer of record, for operators who owe a waste-heat cost-benefit analysis under the Energy Efficiency Directive.
- Watch: provision-level change alerts matched to your site profiles; the portfolio tier adds MCP access to your own obligation graph.
- Compute-Agri screening: a site's heat, water and CO₂ paired with greenhouses, digesters, insect rooms or desalination, then feasibility with a partner engineer.
What we do
Obligation mapping
Every duty that applies to a site, with its citation, its authority and the version it was read in. Analysis, not advice.
Cooling water and heat
Water bodies, outfalls and treated effluent as heat sinks; heat to networks, greenhouses and digesters; a written engineering judgement on each.
Permit route and consents
The permits, consents and notifications the siting triggers, in order, with the supplier letters an application needs.
Change watch
Provision-level alerts when a rule your sites depend on changes, with the source attached.
The dated reasons
Rules with dates behind them.
- Germany · Energy Efficiency Act
Germany's Energy Efficiency Act (EnEfG) requires new data centres to reuse 10% of their energy from 1 July 2026, 15% from 2027 and 20% from 2028.
Source: Bright & Green (opens in a new tab) - Germany · EnEfG consultation
Germany is consulting on replacing the reuse duty with a cost-benefit check (expert statements to the Bundestag committee, 5 October 2026), so the obligation is a moving target and the ladder tracks the change.
Source: Scienceshot (opens in a new tab) - EU · Energy Efficiency Directive reporting
EU data centres above 500 kW report energy, PUE and water every 15 May under the Energy Efficiency Directive's delegated regulation.
Source: EPISensor (opens in a new tab) - France · EED Article 26(6)
Article 26(6) of the Energy Efficiency Directive imposes a waste-heat cost-benefit duty above 1 MW; France sets a cost-benefit deadline of 1 October 2027.
Source: Scienceshot (opens in a new tab) - US · State water rules
About 100 bills in 39 US states address data-centre water use; Utah requires large new sites to consult water providers before construction and to report use annually.
Source: NCSL (opens in a new tab) - UK · AI Growth Zones
UK AI Growth Zone applicants need written water-supplier confirmation and a discharge plan.
Source: trade.gov (opens in a new tab)
Analysis, not advice: each line reads as the linked source published it, and the rules move.
How we engage
Three steps, one fixed price.
- 01
Scoping call
What you are deciding, the sites and the jurisdictions. A fixed price in writing follows.
- 02
Desk study
The brief, pack or dossier produced on the platform, every regulation line cited, and reviewed by a principal engineer before it leaves.
- 03
Hand-over
A design basis your team or your consultants can work from, a revision trail you can check later, and Watch if you want the rules followed for you.
Where it matters most
Who buys it, and when.
A developer choosing between sites
Water, heat and obligations compared across candidates, with the dated duties each one triggers, before the site is committed.
An operator who owes a heat-reuse study
The brief first; then the cost-benefit analysis with an engineer of record, so the duty is discharged with a document that stands up.
A consultancy that needs a cited obligations layer
The regulation work done once, with sources and versions, so your own report builds on it instead of repeating it.
A heat network or utility offered rejected heat
What taking the heat obliges you to, what it is worth to the scheme and which sites can supply it.
A subsea or floating developer
Site screening and consents support on the shore side, as a scoped and paid study.
Case study
A containerised phosphorus-removal plant for a UK water utility: the design pack, shown anonymised.
Questions
Tell us what you are deciding.
A short scoping call, then a fixed price in writing.