Data centre capacity and lease-up
MW by phase, pre-leasing, absorption, rent per kW.
By Surojit Chakraverti, founder of L3VLUP and an investor running a long-short healthcare and technology equities strategy.
On this subject: data centre capacity and lease-up.Updated 4 November 2026
Part of project finance and infrastructure models, with the models, labs and guides around it.
What it does
The top of a colocation model. Capacity is critical IT load in MW, delivered in phases as each is built and energised. Part of a phase is signed before it is ready, the pre-leased share, and the rest is absorbed year by year until occupancy reaches the level the operator holds at stabilisation. Rent is per kW of capacity leased per month, due whether or not the tenant draws the power, and escalates each year. Leased MW times rent is the revenue that sizes the debt and prices the sale.
Where it lives
The same schedule in each model that carries it, with the rows to open. Open a model in the browser, go to the sheet, and click the lines.
- Assumptions, rows 16–18: Stabilised occupancy, Rent, Y1, Rent escalator, annual
- Assumptions, rows 62–63: Pre-leased at energisation, base case, Absorption, base case
- Scenarios, rows 6–9: Pre-leasing, % of the assumption, Pre-leasing, % of the assumption, selected, Absorption, % of the assumption, Absorption, % of the assumption, selected
- Leasing, rows 6–8: Year of operation, Leased share of the phase, Leased MW
- Leasing, rows 11–13: Year of operation, Leased share of the phase, Leased MW
- Leasing, rows 16–18: Year of operation, Leased share of the phase, Leased MW
- Leasing, rows 21–26: Leased MW, MW in service, Occupancy of the MW in service, Rent per kW per month…
What a reviewer looks for
- Every phase fully leased the day it is energised.
- Rent on the MW built rather than the MW leased.
- Occupancy allowed above the level an operator can hold, with no room for moves and churn.
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Vocabulary: Absorption, Stabilisation.