The plan in one screen
You can get the platform off mock data this week for about $12,000 using self-serve vendors (credit card) plus free federal data. Nothing here needs a long procurement cycle except one thing.
The only slow item is the power vendor (the question is "can this specific site get 500 MW"), which is a 3 to 8 week sales process. So you do not wait: you start those demos Monday, in parallel, while the self-serve build proceeds.
Fully loaded year one lands at about $127,000 realistic (range $64k to $274k). Everything below is ordered so the fast, cheap wins happen first and the one slow lever gets pulled on day one.
Recommended path (what to actually buy)
We pressure-tested the full stack. The recommendation: run on a lean stack and defer the two big-ticket vendors. The determinative "can this exact site get 500 MW" number is produced per deal by the utility and by NLC's own power-company and financier partners, so NLC does not need to own it nationwide. And with a behind-the-meter thesis (build on-site gas generation), grid headroom matters less than gas access and export voltage, both of which come from free data.
- BUY (the one must-have): Regrid parcels. Start self-serve on your target counties (a few hundred dollars), scale to the nationwide license (~$40k) once it is proven.
- FREE (covers most of the platform): interconnection queues (the open-source
gridstatuslibrary plus LBNL, no key, no cost), transmission lines and voltage (HIFLD/EIA), gas pipeline proximity (EIA/DOT), existing and planned generation (EIA-860M), fiber presence (FCC), plus FEMA flood, USGS seismic and water, USFWS wetlands. - ADD ~$8k when you start underwriting behind-the-meter sites: Rextag commercial gas, for pipe diameter and capacity. This is the one paid upgrade that directly serves the thesis, and it is cheaper and more relevant than the $50k power vendor.
- DEFER to per-deal, not a nationwide license: the ~$50k prime-power vendor and the fiber route feed. Book the free Enverus and LandGate/Wood Mackenzie demos to get quotes (and ask specifically whether their capacity number covers data-center LOAD, not just generation injection). Then buy a power readout per shortlisted parcel heading to LOI, as a credibility artifact to hand buyers and LPs. Buy fiber as a $625 ad-hoc snapshot per finalist, not a $20k license.
Net recurring cost: about $12,000 to start, about $48,000 at scale (Regrid nationwide + Rextag gas + free everything else). The $50k power vendor and the fiber feed move out of the recurring budget and into per-deal enrichment. That cuts roughly $70k a year versus the full stack, and you lose almost nothing at the screening stage.
When the $50k power vendor genuinely earns its keep: (1) as a third-party credibility artifact in a buyer or LP deck, (2) if NLC pivots from behind-the-meter toward grid-primary powered-land deals, or (3) on a specific finalist heading to LOI. Book the free demo now so you have the quote ready when one of those hits.
Sign up this week (self-serve, card or free)
These you can transact yourself with a credit card or a free account. Do them first. Each card lists what it feeds the platform, the exact steps, the tier to buy, price, what you walk away with, and one thing to confirm on signup.
gridstatus.io The easy one
- Create a free account at gridstatus.io/pricing (no card required).
- Copy the API key from the dashboard.
- Run
pip install gridstatusioand pull the ISO queues. - The free tier (500k rows/mo, 250 req/mo) is enough for all ISO queues. Only move to Pro if you hit volume limits.
pip install gridstatusio, pulling live interconnection queue data for all 7 ISOs.Regrid
- Two tracks. Track A (buy now by card): Property App at $100/yr plus per-county data downloads (shapefile $200 to $400 each, delivered instantly).
- Track B: start the Self-Serve Parcel API 1-week free trial. A key is issued so you can start wiring the platform.
- Prototype on 2 to 4 target counties immediately. Do not buy nationwide yet (that is Section 4).
- Standard Self-Serve API packages are capped and run up to about $12,000/yr.
FiberLocator Online viewer
- Self-serve checkout on fiberlocator.com, live the same day.
- 12-month minimum commitment.
- Buy this only if analysts want a polished fiber map to look at right now.
Free, no signup (wire in this week, $0)
Public-domain and federal sources. No account, no card. Wire these into the platform this week for zero cost.
Natural gas pipelines (EIA via DOT ArcGIS)
EIA pipeline data hosted on the DOT ArcGIS FeatureServer. Query the endpoint directly:
| Endpoint | https://geo.dot.gov/server/rest/services/Hosted/Natural_Gas_Pipelines_US_EIA/FeatureServer/0 |
| Query | ?where=1=1&outFields=TYPEPIPE,Operator,Status&outSR=4326&f=geojson |
Federal backbone (all free downloads)
- EIA-860 / 861: generators plus utility service territory
- FEMA NFHL: flood hazard layers
- USGS: seismic and water data
- USFWS: wetlands
- LBNL "Queued Up": interconnection queues, emp.lbl.gov/queues
FCC National Broadband Map
Free fiber-availability proxy to bootstrap the fiber score until a real route-geometry feed is licensed.
broadbandmap.fcc.gov/data-download
Book demos Monday, in parallel
The power question ("can this site get 500 MW") is the only long-lead item. Both vendors are sales-gated. Request demos from BOTH on Monday to get quotes. Note (see Recommended path): the demo is free and worth doing, but you do not have to sign a nationwide license. Plan to buy a power readout per finalist deal (as a buyer-deck credibility artifact), and on the call ask specifically whether their capacity number covers data-center LOAD, not just generation injection.
Enverus
Read: more mature siting product, but slower and pricier.
LandGate / Wood Mackenzie
Read: historically nimbler and more API / AI friendly.
Sales-gated, do later (open now, buy when scaling)
Start these conversations now so the paperwork is warm, but you do not need to buy until you scale past the prototype counties. Prototype on self-serve data meanwhile.
Regrid nationwide bulk license
parcels@regrid.comReal fiber data feed / route geometry
sales@fiberlocator.com)Rextag commercial gas data
Questions to ask on every sales / demo call
Print this. Run through it on every call. Check each item as you get a clear answer.
- Bulk / API / GIS feed, or UI-only?Can I get this as a bulk export, API, or GIS feature service? We need to pull it into our own platform, not just look at it in your UI.
- Refresh cadenceHow often is the underlying data refreshed?
- Pricing modelIs pricing per-record / metered or a flat annual license? Any onboarding or implementation fee on top?
- Minimum termIs there an annual or multi-year minimum, or can we start month-to-month?
- What do you need from us to transact?Business entity, W-9, MSA, NDA, use-case sign-off, seat minimums?
- Vendor-specific follow-ups Regrid: Is a standardized owner field included? GeoParquet plus S3 / SFTP delivery? Zoning coverage percent by county? Enverus: Is the "greater than 500 MW available capacity" screen exportable (not just in the UI)? All 7 ISOs? ATC refresh cadence? LandGate / WoodMac: Am I contracting with LandGate LLC or Wood Mackenzie, and is this price and product guaranteed for the full term regardless of the integration? gridstatus: Queue refresh per ISO? Enterprise rate limits?
Cost summary
Three views: what you buy right now to get off mock data, the recommended lean stack you actually run on, and the full stack (which we do not recommend buying as a recurring line, see the recommended path at the top).
| Item | Tier | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Regrid self-serve API | Standard (or a few hundred $ for counties only) | ~$12,000/yr |
| gridstatus | Free tier | $0 |
| Natural gas pipelines (EIA / DOT) | Free, public domain | $0 |
| FCC fiber proxy | Free download | $0 |
| Federal backbone (EIA / FEMA / USGS / USFWS / LBNL) | Free downloads | $0 |
| Realistic buy-now total | ~$12,000 | |
| Optional: FiberLocator viewer | Analyst map convenience | +$4,600 |
| Item | Role | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Regrid parcels | The one must-have. Counties now, nationwide (~$40k) at scale | ~$0.5k → ~$40k |
| gridstatus (open-source library) + LBNL | Interconnection queues, no key, no cost | $0 |
| Rextag gas | Add when underwriting behind-the-meter sites | ~$8k |
| Free federal (HIFLD, EIA-860M, gas, FCC, FEMA, USGS, USFWS) | Transmission, generation, gas, fiber, hazard, water | $0 |
| Recurring stack | Start ~$12k, scale ~$48k | ~$12k → ~$48k |
| Item | What it adds | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Regrid nationwide | ~150M parcels, monthly refresh, redistribution | ~$40k |
| gridstatus Pro | Optional: full history and volume (free tier usually enough) | $9k |
| Prime power (Enverus or LandGate) | Defer: buy per finalist deal / as a buyer-deck credibility artifact | ~$50k |
| Fiber data | Skip the license: buy $625 snapshots per shortlisted parcel instead | ~$20k |
| Rextag gas | Pipe diameter / flow / capacity | ~$8k |
| Federal backbone | Generators, flood, seismic, wetlands, water | $0 |
| Full-stack total (not recommended as recurring) | Range $64k to $274k | ~$127,000 |
Week-1 checklist (ordered)
Work top to bottom. Steps 1 through 4 get the platform onto real data. Steps 5 and 6 pull the long levers early. Step 7 is optional.
- Create the gridstatus Free account and copy the API key.Minutes, no card. Confirm queue refresh cadence per ISO.
- Start the Regrid self-serve API trial and buy 2 to 4 target counties.1-week free trial key plus instant county shapefiles. Confirm the standardized owner field is included.
- Wire the free EIA / DOT gas pipeline endpoint into the platform.Public domain FeatureServer, GeoJSON query. Transmission trunk only for now.
- Load the federal backbone plus the FCC fiber proxy.EIA-860/861, FEMA NFHL, USGS, USFWS, LBNL queues, FCC broadband map. All $0.
- Email Enverus AND LandGate / WoodMac for demos.Do both Monday, in parallel. This is the 3 to 8 week long-lead item. Get quotes, then pick one.
- Open the Regrid nationwide conversation.Email parcels@regrid.com now so the paperwork is warm. Keep prototyping on counties meanwhile.
- Optional: buy the FiberLocator viewer.$4,600/yr, same-day, only if analysts want the polished map now. Not a platform feed.