POC 01
Where to build
Location intelligence
A map-based approach to evaluating potential data center locations against power availability, local regulations, permitting, and broader infrastructure constraints.
Three POCs under evaluationEnergy infrastructure intelligence
From site selection to energy planning to data center configuration.
OKAO Labs is evaluating three proofs of concept to help teams assess locations, assemble energy plans, and map data center configurations. The work is shaped by industry conversations about the decisions that need to be made before significant capital is committed.
Three POCs
Three workflows. A potential connected planning process.
We’re evaluating three POCs shaped by industry requests. Together, they could help teams turn fragmented project information into a costed infrastructure plan and an RFP response—with assumptions and projections that can be revisited as conditions change.
WHERE TO BUILD → HOW TO POWER IT → HOW TO CONFIGURE IT → RFP RESPONSE
Illustrative. The RFP response is a potential output informed by all three workflows, not a fourth POC; today each POC is evaluated separately.
POC 02
How to power it
Energy planning, cost forecasting & RFP response support
Explore how disparate project information can be assembled into an energy plan, with comparisons of supply options, projected costs, and supporting material for an RFP response.
Supply options may include grid power, nuclear, gas, renewables, storage, or combinations — options to evaluate against project needs, timing, cost, and reliability, not technologies already modeled.
POC 03
How to configure it
Data center configuration mapping
Explore how a data center’s setup, redundancy, and backup requirements shape its infrastructure needs and costs.
Requirement being explored
Cost projections across the plan
Cost forecasting is a requirement being explored across the three POCs: what a project could cost to build and operate, and how those projections change as the plan changes.
Upfront costs
Site-related infrastructure, power connection or generation, equipment, and redundancy.
Operating costs
Energy, fuel, maintenance, and replacement assumptions over time.
Timing and phasing
The effects of delays, lead times, and staged capacity.
Scenarios and uncertainty
How changes in demand, tariffs, fuel prices, or design requirements affect projected costs.
The intended approach shows ranges, sources, assumptions, and scenario comparisons. Estimates are kept distinct from supplier quotations.
Workflow under investigation
From fragmented inputs to an RFP response
One workflow we’re investigating begins with disparate project information. The task is to reconcile it, assemble a coherent infrastructure plan, develop cost projections, and prepare a response to an RFP. Site findings, energy choices, and configuration requirements could all contribute to that response.
Direction being explored
A plan that can evolve
We’re also exploring how the plan could remain useful as new information arrives. Revised requirements, supplier quotations, delivery dates, or energy assumptions could inform updated scenarios and cost projections—helping teams understand what changed and which decisions need another look.
Problem context
Feasibility is a set of interacting constraints.
These factors describe the decision space, not features implemented in every POC.
- Grid & interconnection
- Behind-the-meter generation
- Resilience
- Water & waste
- Local permitting
- Community considerations
- Equipment lead times
- Financing
- Contractual commitments
Status
Three POCs under evaluation. We’re assessing each workflow separately with industry input, refining the underlying data and assumptions.
What an Energy briefing covers
Explore the three POC directions and the data and assumptions that would shape an evaluation. Topics you might bring:
- —The planning or RFP-response workflow you need help with.
- —The information you currently receive and reconcile.
- —The cost projections and time horizons that matter.
- —The assumptions or changes that cause the most rework.