Is Your Site Selection Strategy Stuck in 2015?

Back in 2015, site selection was simpler. Land was more available. Power was easier to secure. Timelines were tighter, and risk felt smaller.

Fast forward to today, and the landscape has changed fast. Demand has exploded. Power grids are strained. Labor markets have shifted. And competition for land in strategic corridors? Fierce. Yet many teams are still using outdated playbooks to make some of the most critical decisions in their program’s lifecycle.

That’s a problem.

The New Rules Are Unforgiving

Site selection in 2024 isn’t just about finding land that’s flat, cheap, and buildable. It’s about long-term viability and navigating an entirely new set of variables:

• Power availability, not just capacity
• Latency and fiber density for digital infrastructure
• Permitting timelines that vary wildly by region
• Labor markets that align with both buildout and operations
• Environmental constraints and regulatory overlays

One bad assumption, or one missed detail, and suddenly you’re stuck with a parcel that can’t scale, a substation that won’t deliver, or a local agency that won’t move.

That’s not just inconvenient. That’s a threat to your entire business model.

Legacy Criteria Can Lead You Straight Into Trouble

Still relying on checklists from a decade ago? You’re probably ignoring the realities of:

1. Municipal pushback on data center developments
2. Power purchase delays that drag on for quarters
3. Infrastructure bottlenecks no map will show
4. Shifting regional incentives and political climates

The sites that looked good in 2015 now come with long-term friction. And without a modern lens, you won’t see it coming until you’re too deep in to pivot.

Site Selection Should Be a Living, Evolving Process

You can’t afford to treat site selection as a one-time box-checking exercise. It needs to be dynamic, constantly updated with real-time data, cross-functional insight, and a forward-looking strategy.

• Is this site ready for future phases?
• Can it support evolving sustainability requirements?
• Are there alternative locations with better grid resiliency or tax efficiency?
• How fast can we actually get to ribbon-cutting?

If you’re not asking these questions, someone else is, and they’re moving faster than you.

Modern Site Selection Demands a Different Approach

Winning teams treat site selection like an integrated discipline, not an isolated decision. They bring together engineering, operations, utilities, and strategy before the shortlist.

They map risk. Pressure-test assumptions. Build relationships with local jurisdictions early.

And they stay agile, because the best site today might not look like the one you thought you needed last year.

Conclusion

If your site selection process hasn’t changed in years, it’s not strategic, it’s risky. Facilities today face too many moving parts, too much demand, and too little margin for error to rely on yesterday’s logic.

So ask yourself: Is your strategy built for where the market is going, or where it used to be? Because in today’s environment, being behind isn’t just inefficient. It’s expensive.