Compute Capital Stack: Capacity procurement economics
Frontier compute is priced at the megawatt.
Inference turns product demand into physical load: accelerator-hours, power draw, site readiness, contract timing. A low-priced megawatt only matters if it arrives when the load does. The plan is a phased portfolio: grid-blended power carries the load that can be served today, and direct PPAs, stranded-power capture, and nuclear-linked supply take share as each one earns the deliverability to do so. Contracted third-party operators sit in the control layer, above the power-source stack.
updated 2026-06-30cost curve memo
Operating call
Discount the queue, then fund the upper band
Discount requested capacity before planning against it, price the carry when commitments outrun transfer, then fund the upper edge of the cost cone while firm-source caps prove they can deliver.
The tape explains margin pools and repricing pressure. Procurement terms move only when prices change deliverability, financing cost, or vendor pricing power.
Exhibit 1
Requested megawatts overstate usable capacity
Size procurement against delivered capacity. The LBNL queue shows millions of MW requested, withdrawn, active, and completed; the stream that reaches operation is a small fraction of that total, and it is the first constraint on every later cost path.
Queue reality
Most requested power never becomes usable capacity
The queue is vast; the delivered stream is thin. On the all-requested lens, only 8.4% has reached operation, which means a clean 1 GW request becomes 84 MW you can plan against.
1 GW request becomes 84 MW under the current lens. The released cohort is a 1,000 MW planning basis run through the selected survival rate. The interior gates animate the flow; only the end-to-end survival rate is source-backed.
Step 1 / 3Requested MW is only the intake.
The queue is a demand signal. Capacity earns a place in the supply plan by surviving the gates.
Data behind the queue field
LBNL queued capacity through 2025, with the workbook parity check marked matched.
Lens
Entering
Reaches operation
Survival
1 GW request
All requested
6,703 GW
561.5 GW
8.4%
84 MW
Still active
1,745 GW
561.5 GW
32.2%
322 MW
2015-2019 cohorts
1,154 GW
148.4 GW
12.9%
129 MW
Every active, withdrawn, or completed MW in the cumulative LBNL queue vintage.
National conversion by entry-year cohort. Cohorts after 2018 are still aging against the 7-year COD horizon.
Entry year
Projects
MW total
Operational
Pending
Aging
1995
1
0.3 GW
0.0%
0.0%
Matured
1997
19
8.7 GW
80.9%
0.0%
Matured
1998
68
29.5 GW
50.8%
1.2%
Matured
1999
204
108 GW
25.6%
1.0%
Matured
2000
304
127.6 GW
12.3%
0.1%
Matured
2001
528
167.1 GW
9.0%
0.6%
Matured
2002
276
60 GW
17.2%
0.0%
Matured
2003
326
61.2 GW
22.2%
1.6%
Matured
2004
318
59 GW
23.5%
0.6%
Matured
2005
516
90 GW
26.2%
1.2%
Matured
2006
760
160.4 GW
14.9%
2.2%
Matured
2007
1,125
273.7 GW
12.6%
2.7%
Matured
2008
1,228
263.6 GW
6.3%
0.9%
Matured
2009
857
108.1 GW
12.7%
3.3%
Matured
2010
1,266
119.1 GW
12.9%
2.1%
Matured
2011
1,000
124.7 GW
11.6%
3.4%
Matured
2012
592
89.5 GW
19.9%
1.9%
Matured
2013
687
83.8 GW
29.9%
3.7%
Matured
2014
943
125.6 GW
24.7%
5.9%
Matured
2015
1,145
144.2 GW
24.5%
9.8%
Matured
2016
1,669
208.9 GW
17.0%
11.2%
Matured
2017
1,866
236.5 GW
13.1%
19.9%
Matured
2018
2,044
308.7 GW
8.2%
20.7%
Matured
2019
2,329
340.8 GW
8.0%
28.9%
Observed floor
2020
2,569
353.5 GW
4.5%
31.2%
Observed floor
2021
3,135
512.2 GW
2.0%
38.2%
Observed floor
2022
3,435
649.3 GW
0.6%
44.1%
Observed floor
2023
3,400
799.8 GW
1.3%
33.1%
Observed floor
2024
2,603
530.1 GW
0.0%
53.0%
Observed floor
2025
2,323
542.2 GW
0.2%
82.5%
Observed floor
2015-2019 regional cohorts, aggregated on MW. This is the regional replacement for a single national queue haircut.
Negotiate delivery timing before the carry becomes the economics. The queue haircut tells you what may never arrive; the carry wedge prices what arrives late after the billing has started. Contracted MW above validated transfer is a timing exposure with a dollar figure.
Carry wedge
You can pay for power before it arrives
The commitment schedule climbs to 960 MW. The validated transfer ceiling is 480 MW. Take-or-pay billing follows the calendar; the grid follows deliverability. The difference is the carry.
Step 1 / 3The commitment climbs past the grid ceiling.
The minimum commitment climbs 120 MW a year until it reaches 960 MW. The validated transfer ceiling holds at 480 MW, and above that line commitment and deliverability split.
Drag the ceiling line or the slider to test a what-if; the filed 480 MW anchor stays.
Data behind the carry wedge
Take-or-pay minimum commitment by contract year. The what-if ceiling recomputes values from the filed ramp and does not replace the 480 MW anchor.
Contract year
Contracted MW
Deliverable at 480 MW
Stranded MW
Carry range
Y1
120 MW
120 MW
0 MW
$0.0M–$0.0M
Y2
240 MW
240 MW
0 MW
$0.0M–$0.0M
Y3
360 MW
360 MW
0 MW
$0.0M–$0.0M
Y4
480 MW
480 MW
0 MW
$0.0M–$0.0M
Y5
600 MW
480 MW
120 MW
$13.8M–$17.8M
Y6
720 MW
480 MW
240 MW
$27.5M–$35.6M
Y7
840 MW
480 MW
360 MW
$41.3M–$53.4M
Y8
960 MW
480 MW
480 MW
$55.0M–$71.2M
Y9
960 MW
480 MW
480 MW
$55.0M–$71.2M
Y10
960 MW
480 MW
480 MW
$55.0M–$71.2M
Y11
960 MW
480 MW
480 MW
$55.0M–$71.2M
Y12
960 MW
480 MW
480 MW
$55.0M–$71.2M
Y13
960 MW
480 MW
480 MW
$55.0M–$71.2M
Y14
960 MW
480 MW
480 MW
$55.0M–$71.2M
Y15
960 MW
480 MW
480 MW
$55.0M–$71.2M
Y16
960 MW
480 MW
480 MW
$55.0M–$71.2M
Y17
960 MW
480 MW
480 MW
$55.0M–$71.2M
Y18
960 MW
480 MW
480 MW
$55.0M–$71.2M
The carry range is the transfer-blocked MW multiplied by the two capacity-charge anchors. PJM hourly surplus in the same local engine reads 9.0 TWh, but surplus energy does not cross a transfer ceiling.
Exhibit 3
Real unit cost falls while nominal cost still rises
Size capacity procurement to the p95 band, then work backward to deliverable megawatts. Each delivered megawatt becomes tokens served, so the unit cost that matters from here is dollars per million tokens. The central path holds near $2.90 per million tokens nominal across the first six fiscal years, then bends down in real terms as direct PPAs, stranded capture, and nuclear-linked capacity take share while residual grid capacity reprices with utilization. From FY2032 the nominal figure settles near $3.12 as power escalates; the same path reads $2.44 in real FY2026 dollars. A 2,000-draw Monte Carlo sets the band around it.
The capacity plan needs room for the FY2040 upper band
The central forecast stays near $2.90 per million tokens nominal across the first six fiscal years. From FY2032 it reads $2.44 in real FY2026 dollars and $3.12 in nominal dollars. The 90% confidence fan comes from 2,000 Monte Carlo draws around that path; the hairline lattice traces 64of those draws individually, so the spread reads as individual cost paths. P95 is the fan's upper edge: the cost the plan has to be able to fund. Dashed reference paths keep the bear, base, and bull scenarios visible inside the fan.
Each marker is a decision boundary in the portfolio. Hover a node to read the trigger and the contingency that must hold.
RA equals the workbook delay haircut: RiskHaircut multiplied by delay-years. Backtests favored the direct construction-delay penalty over a priced composite.
The demand cone uses the court-sworn recognized-revenue floor and company-stated run-rate observations. Run-rate observations are operating scale markers and are not recognized revenue. Capacity caps remain deliverability judgments.
Method notes and forecast boundaries
Every reading ships the cap-constrained merit-order portfolio, a priced deliverability premium, and a weight roadmap across structures.
Caps are stated deliverability judgments at stage; no cap is a contract. Measured series bound them (queue conversion cohorts, West-hub negative-hour shares, N-SMR COD windows), and the decision values inherit that judgment status.
The demand cone behind every volume uses company-stated run-rate inputs, while the court-sworn recognized-revenue floor remains the lower-bound check.
Both drift readings ship: cone volumes use the shared Base drift assumption and each scenario's own drift column, and the bear reading moves materially between them.
The N-SMR leg prices Option 1 delivered energy and starts at the U1 COD; Option 1 excludes the exclusivity premium, credits, and post-2038 step-ups. Option 1 stays by decision: pricing the first 2038 step into the portfolio book moves NPV savings -0.3% (bear) to -3.1% (bull), and stepping this leg alone would match neither contract book.
The risk discount remains a construction-delay penalty. The priced composite backtested unstable; NPVs are sensitivity outputs around construction timing and delivered-power risk.
Each row prices the next gigawatt from one source at FY2026 conditions; availability caps bind at the portfolio level and feed the mix roadmap.
The cone behind the strip uses company-stated run-rate rows as volume cases; the court-sworn recognized-revenue floor remains the lower-bound check.
The risk discount remains a construction-delay penalty. Backtests found the priced composite unstable, so the risk adjustment stays on the judgment score.
The N-SMR row prices Option 1 delivered energy at the U2 COD year (2033) and carries the longest delay risk; component prices are stated assumptions. Option 1 excludes the exclusivity premium, credits, and post-2038 step-ups; the all-in delivered price runs ~$3.4/MWh higher at 2033 (RA CoI +~0.01 $/MTok; no ranking change).
Portfolio-mean risk-adjusted cost of intelligence per million tokens. The central line stays on the Base forecast; p95 and p05 are the outer Monte Carlo confidence bands.
Fiscal year
Central
p95
p05
2026
$2.74
$3.68
$2.21
2027
$2.74
$3.77
$2.17
2028
$2.73
$3.86
$2.13
2029
$2.79
$3.95
$2.17
2030
$2.71
$3.98
$2.06
2031
$2.66
$4.00
$1.98
2032
$2.62
$4.05
$1.91
2033
$2.58
$4.11
$1.82
2034
$2.50
$4.17
$1.70
2035
$2.47
$4.24
$1.62
2036
$2.43
$4.31
$1.54
2037
$2.39
$4.37
$1.47
2038
$2.35
$4.44
$1.41
2039
$2.32
$4.47
$1.35
2040
$2.26
$4.57
$1.24
Cause: procurement mix
Real cost falls while residual grid capacity reprices
The fiscal-year rows show the mechanism: residual grid falls to 0.0% of the mix in FY2029 as firm-source caps open, demand beyond those finite caps stays visible as unmet capacity, and the real cost path falls anyway.
Fiscal yearFY2026central real path$2.74Nominal budget$2.74Demand2.8 GWResidual-grid share100.0%
Step 1 / 3The real cost path falls.
FY2026 starts at $2.74 per million tokens; the central real path reaches $2.26 by FY2040. Escalation still lifts the nominal budget to $3.19, and both lines have to be funded.
Real centralNominalp05-p95 bandExported MC draw pathsResidual grid 100.0%Direct PPA 0.0%Stranded capture 0.0%N-SMR PPA 0.0%
Every visible mark and the readout use the same exported fiscal-year rows as the workbook. The strand field is a deterministic subset of the trajectory's Monte Carlo paths; nothing is stylized or re-sampled.
Data behind the crossover
Share of the mix, cost percentiles, and demand by fiscal year.
Year
Residual grid
Direct PPA
Stranded capture
N-SMR PPA
Real FY2026 $/MTok
Nominal $/MTok
p95
p90
p10
p05
Demand
FY2026
100.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
$2.74
$2.74
$3.68
$3.56
$2.26
$2.21
2.8 GW
FY2027
79.9%
15.1%
5.0%
0.0%
$2.74
$2.81
$3.77
$3.64
$2.23
$2.17
5.0 GW
FY2028
75.3%
18.5%
6.2%
0.0%
$2.73
$2.87
$3.86
$3.70
$2.20
$2.13
8.1 GW
FY2029
0.0%
75.0%
25.0%
0.0%
$2.79
$3.00
$3.95
$3.79
$2.24
$2.17
12.0 GW
FY2030
14.0%
64.5%
21.5%
0.0%
$2.71
$2.99
$3.98
$3.80
$2.13
$2.06
16.6 GW
FY2031
6.5%
70.1%
23.4%
0.0%
$2.66
$3.01
$4.00
$3.80
$2.05
$1.98
21.5 GW
FY2032
9.5%
62.0%
23.3%
5.3%
$2.62
$3.04
$4.05
$3.84
$1.98
$1.91
26.5 GW
FY2033
19.2%
52.3%
19.6%
8.9%
$2.58
$3.06
$4.11
$3.88
$1.90
$1.82
31.2 GW
FY2034
36.0%
41.4%
15.5%
7.0%
$2.50
$3.05
$4.17
$3.91
$1.78
$1.70
35.9 GW
FY2035
44.2%
32.5%
12.2%
11.1%
$2.47
$3.08
$4.24
$3.97
$1.70
$1.62
41.3 GW
FY2036
46.5%
28.4%
10.6%
14.5%
$2.43
$3.11
$4.31
$4.01
$1.63
$1.54
47.5 GW
FY2037
48.3%
25.2%
9.4%
17.1%
$2.39
$3.13
$4.37
$4.05
$1.56
$1.47
54.6 GW
FY2038
44.0%
25.2%
9.4%
21.4%
$2.35
$3.17
$4.44
$4.08
$1.50
$1.41
62.8 GW
FY2039
39.8%
25.2%
9.4%
25.7%
$2.32
$3.20
$4.47
$4.12
$1.45
$1.35
72.3 GW
FY2040
53.9%
18.0%
6.7%
21.4%
$2.26
$3.19
$4.57
$4.19
$1.34
$1.24
83.1 GW
Exhibit 4
The procurement mix beats the cheapest source
Buy a changing mix, and let the caps set the pace. Four ways to source the same megawatt produce a wide spread in delivered cost per token. Residual grid-blended capacity is cheapest today and scales without a build, but it is finite and reprices with utilization. Direct PPAs, stranded capture, and N-SMR cost more per token now and bend the curve down later as their caps open. The instrument prices RA CoI for each structure across the bear, base, and bull paths.
Procurement Path Simulator
Compare the full sourcing path against the cheapest row.
The selected structures run through the same scenario strip, effective power, margin, and cap logic as the live cost path. The simulator tests whether a low-priced megawatt can clear the delivery path.
Path diagnostics
Base: Residual grid-blended capacity vs Direct PPA, with availability caps kept visible in the comparison.
Delivered spread
$0.21/MTok
Primary power
$97.20/MWh
Primary margin
$1.12/MTok
show gate reasons
Availability caps decide how much of each structure can enter the portfolio mix.
Effective power moves the delivered cost before financing or delay haircuts.
Negative margin under a scenario marks the path as stressed; the row stays in the table.
The absorption record, 2017Q3–2026Q1: trend 26.2%/yr (95% CI 21.6%–31.0%), max trailing-4Q drawdown 5.0%, longest decline 3 quarters, 87% of quarters growing y/y.
The cone is compared with that record: 5-year implied load growth per scenario against rolling capex-window growth, where the fastest window in the measured record is 33.5%.
Implied load growth per scenario against the absorption record.
Path
Implied load CAGR
Against the record
Under its own drift
Bear
31.9%
inside the record
47.4%, above the record
Base
50.7%
above the record
same reading
Bull
75.6%
above the record
57.1%, above the record
Cone CAGRs use a shared Base drift assumption for every path (price and efficiency drifts cancel; load growth = revenue growth). Under each scenario's own drift column the bear path reads materially higher: the bear verdict is a Base-drift statement, and the table above shows both readings.
Historical stress storyboards. The capex record tests whether the cone asks for growth the market has absorbed before. Capex dollars proxy compute-demand growth, with no $-to-GW conversion.
Fuel / geopolitical shock: leave more residual-grid exposure when fuel-linked procurement cannot clear the upper cone on time.
Rate shock: negotiate delivery date, price schedule, and financing carry as one exposure.
Credit crunch: stress funded and unfunded offsets before assuming the buildout gets absorbed.
Grid absorption pressure: treat the US hyperscaler pipeline as stage-labeled context: gross announced capacity, with powered capacity still the planning constraint.
Compare structures
Base: Residual grid-blended capacity is $0.21/MTok lower cost than Direct PPA. Primary margin is $1.12/MTok, with effective power at $97.20/MWh.
Structure
RA CoI, Bear
RA CoI, Base
RA CoI, Bull
Margin, base
Residual grid-blended capacity
$3.81 ◂ best
$2.73 ◂ best
$2.12 ◂ best
$1.12
Direct PPA, validated site
$3.97
$2.94
$2.37
$0.91
Stranded/curtailed capture
$4.18
$3.10
$2.49
$0.75
N-SMR PPA (Option 1)
$4.72
$3.57
$2.92
$0.28
The stated roadmap books $30.58B to $143.16B of NPV savings, measured on the shared Base drift assumption, that the availability caps cannot yet deliver. Residual served load clears through finite grid-blended capacity at scarcity prices; direct PPA, stranded capture, and N-SMR weights rise as deliverable caps open. Contracted third-party operators carry the control layer, and every leg of the mix stays finite.
Growth-rate comparison only: total-company capex dollars proxy compute-demand growth, and no $-to-GW conversion is made. The series includes non-data-center spend; AMZN segment additions are captured FY2018-FY2025, while MSFT, GOOGL, and META disclose no segment capex and stay total-company.
Each row prices the next gigawatt from one source at FY2026 conditions; availability caps bind at the portfolio level and feed the mix roadmap.
The cone behind the strip uses company-stated run-rate rows as volume cases; the court-sworn recognized-revenue floor remains the lower-bound check.
The risk discount remains a construction-delay penalty. Backtests found the priced composite unstable, so the risk adjustment stays on the judgment score.
The N-SMR row prices Option 1 delivered energy at the U2 COD year (2033) and carries the longest delay risk; component prices are stated assumptions. Option 1 excludes the exclusivity premium, credits, and post-2038 step-ups; the all-in delivered price runs ~$3.4/MWh higher at 2033 (RA CoI +~0.01 $/MTok; no ranking change).
That spread is a budget: it prices what raising validated-site throughput is worth. None of it is savings already in hand.
Exhibit 5
Below new-build cost, for a thirty-year lockup
Weigh the discount against the duration. The contract line is $101.05 per MWh all-in in FY2034, or $75.14 in real 2022 dollars. Set against four nuclear build-cost bases financed at 6 to 9 percent WACC, it prices below the cost of building new across the moderate, conservative, and Vogtle-implied cases, and above only the optimistic advanced build. That does not make the power free money. The seller already controls brownfield infrastructure and can monetize assets it does not have to build from scratch; the buyer takes the other side through an estimated thirty-year, largely illiquid N-SMR commitment. That means execution risk on emerging reactors and no easy exit if the cost curve falls below the strike.
Contract chain: six legs to the all-in figure$101.05/MWh FY2034 · $75.14 real 2022$
Selected legs total $101.05/MWh FY2034, or $75.14 real 2022$. 6 of 6 legs are included.
Capital slotestimate+62.00ESTIMATE: slot value; no quoted figure exists
O&M+29.24contract structure
Fuel+14.41priced by the contract
ITC passthrough−8.00credit to the buyer
Exclusivity, net+8.40netted in the contract
Production credits−5.00credit to the buyer
Dollar slots are labeled estimates; the unavailable contract text is not assumed.
nominal-2034 contract vs real-2022 basis (conservative toward the contract)
Moderate at 7.5% WACC: total basis $115.75/MWh, residual −14.75/MWh under the mixed convention. Capex contributes $85.44; O&M and fuel contribute $30.31.
Central read: Moderate @ 7.5% WACC residual −14.75/MWh (contract sits below the basis under the mixed convention).
Break-even capital slot
After netting the non-capital legs, the total is $39.05/MWh. The capital slot, an estimate held at $62.00, breaks even against the central basis at $76.69 under the active convention.
The mix stays bounded by disclosed and archived records. The absolute price level rests on power-price assumptions, with no tradable benchmark behind it, and the risk adjustment is a construction-delay penalty. The figures are planning outputs; none is an executable price.
Brownfield wedge: 15–35% of OCC ($6,800.00/kW) ⇒ $10.60–24.70/MWh; closing the mixed residual takes 20.9% of OCC
Scenario-bound upper bound by the source's own methodology; 15% is not a sourced floor.
coal-site reuse extrapolated to retired-nuclear; band top (26-35%) requires steam-cycle reuse usually lost in decommissioning
single quantification root (INL/RPT-22-67964, 1988 EEDB basis)
base case needs a second root or project filings before it can move beyond the sensitivity band
Assumptions behind each row
Advanced
ATB 2024 v3.0.0 Nuclear - Small Advanced CAPEX 2034
ATB 2024 v3.0.0 Nuclear - Small Advanced O&M/Fuel 2034
ATB 2024 v3.0.0 CF
30y financing life = ATB CRP slice
Moderate
ATB 2024 v3.0.0 Nuclear - Small Moderate CAPEX 2034
ATB 2024 v3.0.0 Nuclear - Small Moderate O&M/Fuel 2034
ATB 2024 v3.0.0 CF
30y financing life = ATB CRP slice
Conservative
ATB 2024 v3.0.0 Nuclear - Small Conservative CAPEX 2034
ATB 2024 v3.0.0 Nuclear - Small Conservative O&M/Fuel 2034
ATB 2024 v3.0.0 CF
30y financing life = ATB CRP slice
Vogtle actuals
EIA TIE 61963: Georgia Power estimates >$30B for 2x1,114 MW -> $13,465/kW floor
ATB 2024 v3.0.0 Nuclear - Large Moderate O&M/Fuel 2034
ATB 2024 v3.0.0 CF
30y financing life
IT stack check
Memory and accelerator mix are separate bottlenecks
Reserve accelerator, memory, and rack supply as separate procurement classes. Power is the gate; the bill of materials is wider. Training, inference, and agent workloads do not all want the same silicon, and supplier allocation belongs in the procurement call itself.
Accelerator classNvidia GPUs, Google TPUs, and AWS Trainium stay in separate capacity classes because their economics, depreciation paths, and vendor exposure differ.
Memory and rackMemory (HBM/DRAM), storage, networking, and host CPUs can bind before the power contract does.
Procurement callMatch each workload to its supply class before committing the order.
Exhibit 6
Retired-nuclear sites screen on deliverability first
Treat every candidate as a deliverability screen before it earns a portfolio cap. The screen starts where power can actually land: grid equipment in place, queue depth, and exposure to low prices. Geolocated candidates carry a published federal coordinate; the remaining census rows stay listed without one.
Interactive procurement map
Priority stranded-energy targets for diligence
13 mapped17 N/A coordinate18,167 MW screened
11 dots / 11,125 MW / 1.00x
Site drill-down
Zion
Prioritize this: large retired-nuclear MW with a current low-price zone signal.
A derived screen: the weights are explicit modeling choices, and NRC-derived MW uses a labeled 0.33xMWt conversion. The NRC 2022 census carries no coordinates. Zion, Dresden, and Big Rock Point map from published federal records (EPA FRS / EIA-860 2024, per-site source on the dot); the remaining census rows are listed without a map position. Every plotted coordinate comes from a published federal record.
PJM price layer
COMED is the live low-price screen
AEP0.03%$58.13
ATSI0.10%$52.82
COMED11.64%$31.87
DOM0.03%$99.97
PJM-RTO0.05%$65.19
WESTERN HUB0.34%$71.78
Zone pnodes are load-weighted aggregates; generator-bus prices strand deeper.
2026 is partial (through 2026-06-09).
ERCOT price layer
ERCOT nodes stay off-map until they are geocoded
HB_WEST 2026: 20.20% negative hours; 221 West settlement points in the nodal strip.
Node zone membership is a settlement construct; the nodes are NOT geolocated here.
Distribution covers full-coverage nodes only (>=90% of the year's hours).
Hub (HB_WEST) is the conservative zonal anchor; nodal shares run higher.
Geocoding verdict (2026-06-12): no capture-quality coordinate source exists for the settlement-point universe. MIS report 10008 carries zero geographic fields, and ERCOT's contour-map KMLs were discontinued in 2021 at ~27% node coverage; the strip stays non-geographic.
Where the cone lands, 2030
Exploratory
The regional layer ranks queue deliverability and brownfield site supply. The band spans all six cone values at 2030, across both drift readings.
PJM22.9%2.48-6.41 GW
MISO21.9%2.38-6.13 GW
CAISO9.3%1.02-2.62 GW
West8.7%0.94-2.43 GW
ERCOT8.6%0.94-2.42 GW
ISO-NE8.6%0.93-2.39 GW
SPP8.2%0.89-2.29 GW
Southeast6.8%0.74-1.90 GW
NYISO5.0%0.55-1.41 GW
An exploratory screen: the two region-complete signals (queue conversion, brownfield screen) measure different things on different scales, and the mixing weights are judgments. The stranded-price signal covers 2 of 9 regions, so it annotates the map and never enters the weights.
Exhibit 7
PJM: deepening low-price hours beat a rising mean
Prefer the zone where negative-price hours are deepening before underwriting a larger direct-power tranche. ComEd and Dominion sit on the same grid and have moved in opposite directions since 2023: the average can climb while the floor drops out more often.
2026: compare COMED against DOM. Negative-hour exposure differs by +8.60 points, and mean LMP differs by −$68.10/MWh.
6 of 6 zones clear the 0.00% threshold.
Zone
Share negative
Share below $5
Mean LMP
P10–P90
COMED
8.60%
11.64%
$31.87
$2.61 – $64.62
WESTERN HUB
0.23%
0.34%
$71.78
$19.83 – $157.47
ATSI
0.05%
0.10%
$52.82
$19.53 – $103.67
AEP
0.00%
0.03%
$58.13
$19.41 – $117.50
DOM
0.00%
0.03%
$99.97
$21.11 – $251.60
PJM-RTO
0.00%
0.05%
$65.19
$19.22 – $139.35
Zone pnodes are load-weighted aggregates; generator-bus prices strand deeper.
2026 is partial (through 2026-06-09).
Exhibit 8
West-Texas upside finances after absorption is proved
Underwrite the hub, and hold the node as upside. Hub history is the deliverable benchmark for West Texas. The nodal tail runs richer, and it becomes financeable only after a site proves it can absorb stranded power at that node.
All nodes: 23 of 785 nodes clear the 20.0% negative-hour threshold. Top node: ASTRA_RN23.7%.
Settlement point
Zone
Negative share
Group
ASTRA_RN
LZ_WEST
23.7%
West
HRFDWIND_ALL
LZ_WEST
23.7%
West
MARIAH_ALL
LZ_WEST
23.7%
West
CN_BRKS_UNT1
LZ_WEST
23.5%
West
COTPLNS_RN
LZ_WEST
23.4%
West
SPLAIN1_RN
LZ_WEST
23.4%
West
SPLAIN2_RN
LZ_WEST
23.4%
West
SSPURT_WIND1
LZ_WEST
23.4%
West
FRYE_SLR_ALL
LZ_WEST
23.4%
West
GOODNIT1_ALL
LZ_WEST
23.2%
West
Node zone membership is a settlement construct; the nodes are NOT geolocated here.
Distribution covers full-coverage nodes only (>=90% of the year's hours).
Hub (HB_WEST) is the conservative zonal anchor; nodal shares run higher.
Geocoding verdict (2026-06-12): no capture-quality coordinate source exists for the settlement-point universe. MIS report 10008 carries zero geographic fields, and ERCOT's contour-map KMLs were discontinued in 2021 at ~27% node coverage; the strip stays non-geographic.
Market context
Market pricing shows where compute scarcity is repricing
Use the tape as an early-warning screen, and move procurement terms only when the tape changes the case. Public equities reprice the same bottleneck in real time: suppliers, buyers, power owners, equipment backlogs. The case moves when those prices change what can be delivered, what financing costs, or who holds pricing power.
NVDA marginvendor margin pool the compute stack pays into.
MU / memoryHBM, DRAM, and data-center SSD supply around the accelerator rack.
AVGO / MRVLcustom silicon and networking exposure around accelerator interconnect.
INTC / ARMhost CPU supply and architecture exposure around the rack.
SMCI / DELL / HPErack-scale server supply and integration capacity.
RTO clearing price moved from $28.92 to $269.92 per MW-day, then held above $333.44 in the next two delivery years.
Demand absorption record$434B
Aggregate hyperscaler capex exits 2026Q1 with 30.6% median y/y growth; the base load path still sits above the historical capex envelope.
Fuel leg1.0103x
Fabrication composite at 2026-05. The feed proxy is 1.1561x; conversion and SWU pending. 66% live-weight coverage is priced.
Risk tape3 of 8
Priced factors move the readout from 68.0% to 48.0%. The discount driver stays on construction timing; the priced composite proved unstable in backtests.
Rao sworn floors$60B+
Revenue floor $5B+, compute spend $10B+, and outside capital $60B+ keep the demand case anchored below the headline run rate.
PJM surplus hours90.4%
PJM's surplus hours carry 12 TWh of energy in the Jan-Jul window. Useful energy still has to clear transfer, congestion, and site absorption.
ERCOT nodal tail23.7%
West-Texas resource nodes approach the 25% negative-hour band, but no full-coverage node crosses it. LZ West median: 11.8%.
Retired-nuclear screen30 rows
Zion leads the screen at 2,145 MW equivalent. It remains a diligence queue; a portfolio cap needs absorption proof first.
The tape keeps each feed tied to its own decision, from timing carry to siting diligence.
Live financing tape
Credit and rates move while the page stays open
pinned
BAMLH0A0HYM2
HY OAS
2.66%
2026-06-19 · fresh baseline
FOAK / credit-risk pressure around financing windowsBAA10Y
BAA - 10Y
1.51%
2026-06-18 · fresh baseline
Investment-grade spread pressure around long-duration obligationsDGS10
DGS10
4.46%
2026-06-18 · fresh baseline
Treasury-rate base for financing-cost context
The risk tape already uses these three series. If the upstream feed is unavailable, the panel holds the last pinned observation and labels it pinned.
Live FMP workspace
Live pricing across the constraint chain
Accelerator and memory suppliers show the hardware constraint, hyperscalers show the buyer capex bid, and power and equipment names show whether the grid leg is repricing while delivery gates move.
Read the full chain from chips to buyers to power delivery.
Universe tape
Pending
Peer financial compare
Peer
Gross margin
Capex
FCF
EV / sales
Peer financials are pending.
NVDA historical scrub
Pending
Historical prices are pending.
NVIDIA
NVDA
accelerator supply, gross margin, and data-center demand
Market cap PendingGross margin PendingCapex PendingFCF Pending
Analyst target scenario
Upside recomputes from the selected live quote against the FMP consensus, high, or low analyst target. Missing target fields stay pending.
Cost relief comes from delivered power. Announced capacity buys nothing. Download the workbook for the formulas and sensitivities, or the notebook to rebuild the trajectory from output rows to the headline numbers.