What a Barrio site is
A Barrio site is a small industrial parcel, usually one to ten acres, next to an existing substation or transmission line in a Texas town that has more grid capacity than local demand. We lease the land from a local owner or buy it, build the electrical service with the utility, and lease the powered site to a tenant. The tenants run containerized computing and battery storage: equipment in shipping-container-sized enclosures on a gravel or concrete pad, behind a fence, with a transformer and switchgear. There are no large buildings, no cooling towers and no permanent staff on most sites.
How we choose where to build
- Industrial or agricultural land first. We look for parcels that are already zoned or used for industrial purposes, or open land away from homes, next to existing grid infrastructure.
- Distance from neighbors. Noise from cooling fans is the main thing a neighbor would notice. We site equipment with setbacks and orientation in mind, and we will share equipment noise ratings on request.
- The utility signs off first. Nothing is energized until the transmission or distribution utility has studied the load and agreed the local grid can serve it without harming other customers.
- We talk to the county. Before we commit to a site we meet with county officials. If a community does not want a project, that is a signal we take seriously.
Questions people ask us
Does this raise my electric bill? Our tenants buy power at wholesale through the same market as every other large customer and pay the utility's tariff for delivery. Because they curtail when prices spike, they reduce their draw at the times that set peak costs rather than adding to them.
Does it use water? Containerized computing is cooled by air or by closed-loop fluid systems inside the enclosure. Our sites do not draw on municipal or well water for cooling.
Is it noisy? Fan noise is real and it is the thing we design around. It is comparable to commercial HVAC equipment and falls off quickly with distance. We publish equipment ratings and setbacks for any site on request.
What happens if the tenant leaves? The electrical service, pad and fence stay with the land and can serve a different industrial user. Containers are removed by the tenant.
Who owns Barrio? Barrio Energy is Barrio Resources LLC, a Houston company founded and run by Ivan Pinney. There is no outside fund behind it. You can read about the team here.
Our commitments
- Questions from neighbors, local officials and reporters are read by Barrio staff, not a vendor, and answered where we can add something useful.
- We will meet with any commissioners court, city council or neighborhood group in a community where we have or are considering a site.
- We follow every local permitting and notice requirement, and we tell you when we file.
- We publish the grid data we work from at map.barrioenergy.com, so the capacity claims we make can be checked.
Talk to us
Neighbors, landowners, county and city officials: info@barrioenergy.com. Reporters: see the press page. Barrio Energy, Houston, Texas.