Highlands CRE partners with utility providers to develop data center opportunities within their service territories. We bring the development expertise that allows utilities to participate in data center demand growth without bearing unfamiliar execution risk.
Data center demand is transforming the energy landscape. AI workloads, cloud computing, and digital infrastructure require unprecedented power capacity—often hundreds of megawatts per facility.
For utility providers, this represents both opportunity and challenge. The opportunity: significant new load growth in an era of flat or declining traditional demand. The challenge: data center development requires real estate expertise, financial structuring, and execution capabilities that fall outside core utility operations.
Utility providers face difficult choices when data center operators seek sites within their territories:
Allow third-party developers to capture development value while utilities provide only commodity power delivery.
Attempt unfamiliar real estate development activities, accepting execution risk in areas outside core competency.
Work with experienced development partners who bring execution capability while utilities contribute service territory knowledge and power capacity.
We work with utility providers as development partners, not vendors or consultants. Our model creates alignment through shared participation in project success.
We seek meaningful equity participation in projects we develop. This alignment ensures our incentives match yours—we succeed when projects succeed, not when transactions close.
We understand that utility participation in development activities involves regulatory considerations including affiliate transaction rules, rate case implications, and commission oversight. Our partnership structures are designed to work within these frameworks, and we welcome early conversations with regulatory and legal stakeholders to ensure alignment.
We handle development complexity so you can focus on core operations.
Our equity participation means we are rewarded for positive outcomes.
We understand utility planning cycles, rate case implications, and public service commission dynamics.
We've managed community engagement, public hearings, and political dynamics across dozens of public-private projects. Data center development involves similar sensitivities, and we approach these with the same care.
We're building enduring programmatic relationships.
We're interested in conversations with utility providers evaluating data center opportunities within their service territories.
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