The build-out of AI compute, renewables and storage has turned one boring input into the deciding factor of an entire deal: distance to the grid. A data centre, a solar farm and a battery are three very different projects, but each one lives or dies on the same question — how far is the nearest substation, and what voltage is it carrying? Get that wrong and no amount of clever design saves the site. Get it right early and you are holding the scarcest asset in the energy transition.
The problem is that grid proximity is invisible on a normal property listing. A parcel that looks like ordinary rural or industrial land can be worth a multiple of its neighbours simply because a 132 kV line runs along the boundary — or worthless for energy use because the nearest connection point is thirty kilometres away. Developers, land bankers and agents burn days pulling grid maps, cadastre, terrain and zoning by hand just to answer that one question for a single address. Power Sites answers it from any address in seconds, and scores all three energy use-cases at once — so you screen the whole pipeline before you spend a dollar on consultants.
Three buyer types compete for the same grid-adjacent land, each with a different tolerance and a different budget. Understanding what each one needs is the whole game of site selection.
In every case the constraint is the same: the grid does not move. You can rezone, regrade and redesign a site, but you cannot relocate a substation. That is why proximity to transmission and substation infrastructure is the honest first filter — and why a fast, repeatable proximity score beats slow, one-at-a-time desktop research when you are working a real pipeline.
Power Sites reads the grid, cadastre and terrain around an address and turns them into a score out of 100 for each use-case. Below is how the underlying factors map to each energy format — a proximity-and-fit view, not a promise of capacity. Use it to understand why one address scores strongly for a battery but marginally for a data centre.
| Siting factor | Data centre | Solar farm | Battery (BESS) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Distance to substation | Critical — closer is decisive | Important — affects connection line cost | Critical — adjacency is the whole case |
| Transmission voltage class | Needs high / transmission-class | Sub-transmission often workable | Depends on the connection point |
| Parcel size | Large, contiguous | Broad footprint per MW | Small parcel is fine |
| Slope / terrain | Flat preferred | Gentle slope needed | Fairly tolerant |
| Zoning fit | Industrial-leaning | Rural / agricultural | Flexible near infrastructure |
Power Sites is one vertical inside GoSiteHunt — an instant property-development feasibility and site-finding platform that scores any address, in 35+ countries, in seconds. If your work spans more than energy land, the same account covers the commercial and residential stack:
- Power Sites — score any address for data centre, solar and battery suitability from real grid data.
- Billboards & out-of-home and the billboard site finder — harvest real sign locations and score new candidate sites and network gaps by visibility and traffic exposure.
- Retail & shopping-centre siting — read a site's catchment, competition and anchors and get the retail format and brand-fit that suits it.
- Development site finder — surface parcels that match your buy-box across residential and mixed-use.
- Feasibility software — residual land value and GO / NO-GO on any site, instantly.
- Zoning lookup — check what a parcel is zoned before you dig deeper.
- See how it works, browse the full FAQ, or compare us in best development feasibility software.
The differentiator is coverage. Rival tools tend to be single-country, single-function or enterprise-priced. GoSiteHunt is global, end-to-end and instant — one platform that screens a data-centre parcel, a retail catchment and a residual land value from the same address bar, free to start on trial credits.
Explorer
- Score sites with your trial credits
- All three use-cases per check
- Ideal for a landowner or agent checking one property
Energy Operator
- Unlimited site checks — no credits
- Data centre + solar + BESS scores on every check
- Official grid data in Australia, OSM worldwide
- Cancel anytime
If you hold a parcel close to transmission or a substation, you may be sitting on exactly what energy developers are hunting for. Check your address in the tool above — it is free to start on trial credits — and see whether it scores well for data centre, solar or battery use. A strong score is a signal the site could be worth taking to market. It is a screening signal only, not a valuation or an offer.
Score your land free →What does a Power Sites score actually measure?
It measures how close an address sits to real grid infrastructure — transmission lines and substations — plus parcel size, slope and zoning where available. The score is a proximity and site-fit signal for data centre, solar and battery use. It is not a guarantee of grid connection, capacity or approval; connection headroom must always be confirmed with the network operator.
Does a high score mean I can connect to the grid?
No. Proximity is not capacity. A strong score tells you a site is worth a formal connection enquiry because the infrastructure is nearby and the parcel suits the use — but the network operator decides whether spare capacity exists at that substation. Power Sites tells you which sites deserve that enquiry, not whether it will succeed.
Which countries does Power Sites cover?
GoSiteHunt scores addresses worldwide, wherever the electricity grid is mapped. In Australia the read uses official Geoscience Australia grid data plus parcel, zoning and slope. Elsewhere, sites are scored on grid proximity from OpenStreetMap data, so coverage depth depends on how well the local grid is mapped.
Who uses a data centre, solar and battery land finder?
Energy and data-centre developers screening land at scale, land bankers acquiring powered sites ahead of demand, and land agents or owners checking whether a grid-adjacent parcel is worth taking to market. Anyone whose deal turns on grid proximity can use it to shortlist fast.
How is this different from doing my own grid research?
Manually, screening one site means pulling grid maps, cadastre, terrain and zoning by hand — hours per address. Power Sites returns all three use-case scores and the grid facts behind them from any address in seconds, so you can rank hundreds of parcels before commissioning a single consultant report.
Can landowners use it too?
Yes. A landowner can check a single address free with trial credits to see whether it scores well for data centre, solar or battery use. A strong score is a signal the parcel may be worth taking to the market of energy developers hunting for grid-adjacent land.
Is the score financial or planning advice?
No. All outputs are indicative screening only, drawn from public grid, cadastre and terrain data. They are not valuation, planning, financial or legal advice, and grid connection, planning consent and land price are never guaranteed.
Score any address for data centre, solar and battery suitability from real grid data. Free to start on trial credits — no card to try it.
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