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We're on a mission to help companies of all sizes identify the best locations, secure incentives, obtain development approvals and optimize energy strategies through Location Economics®.
BLS & Co. conducted a thorough review of Florida Power & Light’s 35-county territory to pre-qualify sites for data centers and other mission-critical facilities.
BLS & Co. and its energy services affiliate Sugarloaf Associates conducted a thorough review of Florida Power & Light’s 35-county territory to pre-qualify sites for data centers and mission-critical facilities. Four diverse sites were selected. The sites offer a unique combination of factors desired by today’s mission critical and data center operations, including highly reliable and redundant power and fiber infrastructures, competitive cost structures, and locations insulated from manmade and natural risks.
BLS/SLA also provided advisory service and expert witness in the development of a new FPL electric economic development rider for data centers and large manufacturing plants in Florida's FPL territory.
BLS & Co. utilizes an assortment of services – a process we call Location Economics® – to advise clients on location decisions. Discover our variety of offerings to help you navigate the complex decision making processes that occur when searching for a new location for your organization.
BLS & Co. specializes in a variety of industries and our dedicated team is compromised of experts in nearly all major categories.
At BLS & Co., we have executed wide variety of projects for our clients, which includes facilities such as headquarters, warehouses, and data centers.
Stay up to date with BLS & Co. by exploring our latest news and musings on the world of site selection and more.
We're proud to provide a few key resources to help get you started on your site selection journey.
Search our North American database for your ideal location for your company's HQ, R&D Facilities, and more.
If your organization is confronting complex and sensitive location decisions, please reach out to schedule a confidential conversation.
Interested in a career opportunity with BLS & Co.? Click below to learn more about our growing team and view all current openings.
As companies scrutinize their energy use, the conversation often focuses on the cost of power, without considering other significant energy variables that could create unforeseen costs and risks, such as:
Through our Sugarloaf Associates™ energy services affiliate, BLS & Co. offers a broad spectrum of energy procurement and assessment services that can be integrated into any phase of a corporate relocation or expansion project. Our team has over 100 years of combined experience in the utility industry, giving us a deep understanding of utility issues, methods, technologies, infrastructure and costs.
Tim Comerford, Senior Vice President at Biggins Lacy Shapiro & Co., discusses our firm's Energy Services.
The last decade has witnessed the exponential growth and evolution of large data centers, server farms, disaster recovery centers, network operations centers and trading floors. This expansion is being driven by the demand for digital products and services from the financial, technology and consumer industries. To assist companies and users of data centers, BLS & Co. has acquired specialized capabilities in the design, site selection and utility installation for mission critical operations of all types. We manage complex location requirements and public sector variables that can impact project feasibility, timing and cost.
To address the needs of data center suppliers and providers, our Qualified Data Center Site Certification program identifies and analyzes sites and facilities offering a unique combination of factors desired by mission critical and data center operations, including: highly reliable, redundant power and fiber infrastructures, competitive costs, and locations insulated from manmade and natural risks.
BLS & Co. identified and qualified nine "Data Center Qualified Sites" for American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), one of the nation's largest utilities.
BLS & Co. and its energy services affiliate, Sugarloaf Associates, identified nine "Data Center Qualified Sites" for American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), one of the nation's largest utilities. After a comprehensive review of locations across AEP's 11-state territory, BLS & Co. qualified sites with reliable and redundant power supply, strong fiber networks, low disaster risks and a business-friendly climate.
The team designed a three-phase evaluation process that analyzed the electric supply and capacity, access to long and short-haul fiber providers, water availability, electric costs, tax exemptions and incentives, demographics, vendor/supplier networks and the ability to complete construction within 18 months.
As an extra step, a third-party engineering company modeled each site's ability to accommodate a 100,000-square-foot raised-floor data center designed to current industry standards.
BLS/Sugarloaf also completed an analysis of sites in 2 states for AEP data center / operations facility. The team review the infrastructure, both manmade and natural disaster risks and the proximity of service providers to support a data center.
Short-listed locations: Ohio, Louisiana, Texas, Indiana, Virginia, West Virginia, Oklahoma
Long term, the forecast is for upward pressure on energy prices. This will be driven by an increase in domestic demand for natural gas due to coal plant retirements and by increased natural gas exports to Asia and Europe. What can companies do? To limit future exposure to price spikes, BLS & Co. recommends that customers in deregulated states give serious consideration to longer term energy supply agreements, such as:
BLS & Co.’s team has many years of experience securing energy prices on the commodity markets, and our team frequently structures energy services agreements for clients.
BLS & Co. Senior Vice President Tim Comerford and Senior Consultant Haley Hop dive into how US markets must adapt to address the growing data center industry.
In addition to our energy procurement and mission critical facilities practices, BLS & Co. provides a number of other energy-related services including:
