Operating evidence and financing
What this package helps you examine
Data-center underwriting must connect real-estate cash flow to deliverable power, cooling and customer acceptance. Contracted capacity can exceed capacity that is ready to earn revenue today. Prepare a financing case in which engineering milestones, utility obligations, customer commitments and capital payments use the same dates and capacity definitions.
Define the capacity that earns revenue
State whether the schedule measures utility service, critical IT load, commissioned capacity, contracted capacity or occupied/billable capacity. These measures are not interchangeable. Reconcile customer contract dates, acceptance conditions, ramp periods and actual invoices. Digital Realty's issuer disclosure describes power and cooling dependencies; it does not validate this property's engineering capacity or customer commencement assumptions.
Separate power costs and revenue treatment
Identify which electricity, demand, connection or other charges are borne by the owner and which are passed through under customer contracts. Reconcile both the reimbursement and the cost without treating a pass-through as pure margin. Record operating staff, maintenance, insurance and required replacement spending. Technical efficiency and redundancy assumptions need qualified engineering evidence rather than a spreadsheet label.
Fund the delivery sequence
Map utility works, electrical equipment, cooling, commissioning, customer acceptance and revenue commencement to dated costs and loan draws. A signed customer contract may not pay before the site is capable of delivering the promised service. Test a delay in the bottleneck milestone while carrying the costs that continue. Confirm which assets, contracts and infrastructure rights are included in the lender's collateral and consent process.
Use the workbook
- Use Assumptions!D5 for Base (1) or Downside (2), and the labeled scenario input rows. Enter source data in Power and Contracts!D10:L21; preserve formula cells and an untouched workbook copy.
- Billing is limited to commissioned capacity. Energy assumes continuous full billed load, calendar hours and the entered PUE; change these for actual utilization. Contracted load, power delivery and customer acceptance require independent evidence.
- Reconcile Operations to Summary. Apply the entered lender adjustment separately to the modeled cash flow. Sizing uses amortizing debt service, while first-year payments reflect the entered interest-only period.
- In Assumptions, replace illustrative value, LTV, DSCR, debt yield, rate, amortization and requested ceiling with the intended scenario. Review capacities in Debt and Funding. The smallest modeled capacity does not establish eligibility or approval.
- Closing equity includes the entered opening cash and restricted reserves. Additional operating cash need is measured after that opening cash, so do not add it twice. Inspect monthly cash and remaining principal at maturity.
- Read Review for model conventions and limitations. Save each scenario with its supporting evidence and date; actual lender definitions, legal rights and professional findings control the transaction.
Questions to prepare for a lender
What capacity is presently billable?
Engineering-certified capacity definitions, commissioning evidence and customer acceptance records.
When do customer contracts begin paying?
Executed contracts, ramp schedules, conditions and actual billing.
Who bears power cost and price changes?
Utility and customer contracts with pass-through and demand-charge treatment.
Which milestone controls delivery?
Integrated utility, equipment, commissioning and customer schedule.
What cash is required if that milestone slips?
Monthly construction/operating cash plan with continuing costs and delayed collections.
What rights and assets support the loan?
Collateral map, utility/service rights, equipment ownership and required consents.
03 / Prepare
Build the evidence file
Use this as a preparation checklist. The lender determines the documents, definitions and review conditions for the actual transaction.
Cash flow and operations
- Customer contract schedule with capacity unit and billing commencement.
- Actual invoices, collections, credits and service-related deductions.
- Utility bills and customer reimbursement reconciliation.
- Operating expenses for staffing, maintenance, insurance and service contracts.
- Replacement and major-equipment capital schedule.
- Monthly capacity ramp and cash-flow bridge with explicit units.
Property and collateral
- Engineering report defining power, cooling and usable capacity.
- Utility interconnection, service and capacity agreements.
- Commissioning, testing and customer acceptance documentation.
- Equipment inventory with ownership, liens and maintenance obligations.
- Title, easements, access and actual-use evidence.
- Environmental, condition and other third-party reports requested.
Sponsor and execution
- Sponsor and operator experience delivering comparable infrastructure.
- Ownership chart connecting real estate, equipment and operating entities.
- Key contractor and technical-management responsibilities.
- Verified liquidity after infrastructure and other commitments.
- Customer concentration and sponsor contingent obligations.
- Equity authority for delay, cost overruns and replacement equipment.
Closing and funding
- Lender acceptance of capacity, collateral and customer-contract assumptions.
- Utility, customer and material contract consents required for financing.
- Draw conditions tied to actual work and commissioning evidence.
- Payoff, lien, insurance and title requirements.
- Funding plan for costs outside lender-eligible scope.
- Milestone register with a stop decision for unfunded delivery dependencies.
Watch for these assumptions
- Contracted capacity is not automatically commissioned or billable capacity.
- Do not treat electricity reimbursement as margin without its matching cost.
- A forecast revenue date must follow the controlling technical and customer acceptance conditions.
- A real-estate model cannot certify engineering performance, redundancy or service-level compliance.
Before you rely on the result
- Reconcile capacity units across contracts, engineering and billing.
- Identify the delivery bottleneck and fund its delay scenario.
- Obtain evidence of the actual utility and customer rights before relying on them.
Scope and limitations
- Educational analysis; not a financing offer, appraisal, legal opinion or program eligibility determination.
- Workbook figures and thresholds are illustrative editable assumptions, not current lender quotes or universal underwriting standards.
- Document requests depend on the lender, transaction, jurisdiction and property; address unresolved issues with the relevant qualified professional.
Sources and applicability
These references support the stated asset and risk context. The questions and document lists are preparation tools, not a statement that every lender requires or accepts the same package. Actual contracts, applicable rules and the chosen lender determine the transaction requirements. The cited source passage was rechecked in the retained official source file from same-day library research; direct web retrieval was restricted or incomplete during PDF preparation.
- Digital Realty 2025 Form 10-KRisk discussion of electrical capacity, power and cooling obligations · Checked 2026-10-21Issuer example; engineering capacities, prices and cost margins here are hypothetical.