AI location intelligence for grid operators.

The problem

Substations are the bottleneck of the energy transition. Locating them is the bottleneck of the bottleneck.

Data we connect

The sources behind every score.

Per-candidate enrichment for grid operators draws on a wider set than the typical vertical — the layered Dutch geodata stack plus operator-specific public capacity indicators.

See the full enrichment list for cadence and coverage.

• Kadaster

  Cadastral records — parcels, owners, transactions.

• BAG

  Buildings & addresses — residences within distance contours.

• BGT

  Surface inventory — pavement, vegetation, footprint.

• BRO

  Subsurface registry — soil, groundwater, contamination.

• Public substation registries

  Existing assets and grid topology.

• Environmental contour data

  Noise, EMF, ecology buffer zones.

• Municipal zoning plans

  Bestemmingsplannen via PDOK where published.

• Grid operator public capacity data

  Liander, Stedin, Enexis congestion indicators.

• Street View

  Frontage, sightlines, immediate neighbour context.

How we start

How we start.

A typical grid operator engagement begins with a scoped pilot on one investment region — usually 200 to 800 candidate parcels — to validate the methodology against your existing scouting work. From there it scales to full investment-plan coverage with a quarterly refresh cadence.

1. 01Week 1: prompt definition + data integration
2. 02Week 2-3: scoring run + reasoning review with your team
3. 03Week 4: handover (PDF dossier + GeoJSON + GIS integration)

FAQ

Grid operators: common questions.

• What is Locata for grid operators?

  Locata is an AI site selection tool for grid operators that screens substation, transformer, and HV/MV connection candidates against the European public-data stack — Kadaster, BAG, BGT, BRO, environmental contours, municipal zoning — and scores each with three AI models in parallel. The output is investment-plan-ready: ranked candidates with reasoning that survives ACM consultation.

• How does Locata help with substation site selection?

  Locata pre-qualifies every candidate parcel in your investment region against physical constraints (parcel size, distance to existing grid), regulatory constraints (zoning, environmental buffers), and public-opposition signals (residence density, prior objection patterns) in one pass. The screening that previously took twelve months happens in weeks, and the public-opposition risk surfaces in week three instead of month thirty.

• Can Locata integrate with our internal GIS?

  Yes. Locata exports GeoJSON, CSV, and PDF dossiers, and offers a REST API for live integration with ESRI/ArcGIS, FME, internal asset-management platforms (Maximo, IFS), and project portfolios. We don't replace your single source of truth — we feed it.

• How does Locata assess public opposition risk?

  Through layered signals: distance to nearest residences via BAG, Street View visual context, environmental contour data, municipal zoning plans, and (where publicly available) prior opposition patterns in the gemeente. Candidates with high objection risk are flagged before commitment, with the reasoning cited so your stakeholder-engagement team can prepare.

• Is Locata's output suitable for ACM consultation?

  Yes — that's a primary design constraint. Every score traces back to its enrichment inputs with citations, the methodology is auditable end-to-end, and the per-candidate reasoning is formatted to drop into ACM investment plan dossiers. We do not automate the decision; we provide defensible underpinning for it.

• How do we start a Locata pilot for grid planning?

  A typical engagement opens with one investment region — 200 to 800 candidate parcels — over four weeks: week one for prompt definition and data integration, weeks two and three for the scoring run and reasoning review with your team, week four for handover including GIS integration. From there it scales to full investment-plan coverage with a quarterly refresh cadence.