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Glossary
The words behind a construction project.
A solar farm, a wind farm, a battery site or a data center leaves a paper trail long before work starts: queue entries, agreements, permits and county votes. Here is what each one is, and what it tells a team that sells to the crews who build them.
Guides
How to tell a solar, wind, storage or data center project is about to break groundThe public records a site leaves on its way to construction, in the order they appear, and which ones mean work is close.Who builds a utility-scale solar farm: developer, EPC and the tradesThe companies on a solar farm from site to switch-on, who hires whom, and when each one is chosen.Finding construction leads for energy and data center projects before they go to bidWhy solar, wind, storage and data center work rarely shows up on bid boards, and where to find it first.Data center construction: the records that come before the first slabHow a data center campus shows up in public records, from rezoning to grading, and which records name the builder.
Terms, A to Z
Battery energy storage systemA grid-connected battery site: containers of lithium-ion cells, inverters and a substation, built in months on a few acres.Commercial operation dateThe date a power project starts selling power; developers' projected CODs in the queue run late more often than not.Confirmed, reported and estimatedHow Groundtrace marks every fact: two independent records agree, one record says so, or a model worked it out.Construction stormwater permitThe permit a site needs before it disturbs the ground; the notice filed for it often names the builder and dates the start of work.DeveloperThe company that finds the site, wins the permits, the grid connection and the financing, and hires the builder.EPC contractorThe company that designs, buys the equipment for and builds a power project under one contract: the builder, and the one who hires the trades.First ground disturbanceThe first clearing or grading on a site, the moment construction starts on the ground; Groundtrace watches for it from satellite.General contractorThe company that builds a data center or other building for its owner and hires the trades; the data center counterpart of an EPC.Grid operatorThe organization that runs a region's high-voltage grid and its power market, and keeps the queue of projects asking to connect.Interconnection agreementThe contract that settles how and when a project connects to the grid, and who pays for the upgrades; the strongest queue signal that a site will be built.Interconnection queueThe grid operator's list of power projects asking to connect to the grid, usually the first public trace of a solar, wind or storage site.Mechanical completionThe point where everything is installed and ready for testing, before the plant is energized and starts commercial operation.MW and MWhA plant's power (megawatts) and a battery's stored energy (megawatt-hours); a solar farm's size in AC and DC differs.Notice to proceedThe go-ahead to start work: from an owner to its builder, or from a developer to the utility building its grid connection.Pile drivingSetting the steel posts that hold a solar farm's racking or trackers; one of the largest scopes on a solar site.Power purchase agreementThe long-term contract to buy a project's power, which a developer usually needs before it can finance and build.Project substation and gen-tieThe substation that steps a project's power up to grid voltage, and the line that carries it to the grid's point of interconnection.Siting approvalThe state or local permission to build a power plant at a site; in many states, the step that decides whether a project goes ahead.Survey layout and stakingMarking on the ground where every road, foundation and pile goes, before and during construction.SWPPPThe site's plan for keeping sediment and runoff in place during construction, required with a construction stormwater permit.Tax abatementA county, city or school district's agreement to reduce a project's property taxes for a period; on the agenda months before construction.Trade subcontractorA company hired by the builder for one scope of work: clearing, grading, piling, electrical, survey, fencing and the like.
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