Methodology
Software watches the databases. People verify every entry.
Caliche Intelligence reports which Central Texas data-center projects are real by reading the records that cost real money or real commitment to create. Monitoring tools flag when something changes in a dozen public systems; an analyst then confirms it against the primary source before it ever reaches a subscriber. Nothing is published on a press release alone.
The four record classes
Money down
Interconnection deposits and utility agreements. Nobody parks seven figures with the grid operator for a press release. Checked weekly against PUCT dockets and ERCOT reports.
Permits
TCEQ air and water filings. Backup generation needs an air permit; a campus needs water. Applications carry dates and addresses. Checked weekly against TCEQ databases.
Dirt
Deeds, plats, and county records. Land either closed or it didn't — the county clerk doesn't do hype. Checked across seven county records systems.
Politics
Council agendas, abatements, moratoriums, organized opposition. The public record shows friction before the press does. Agendas reviewed weekly; hearings attended in person.
The confidence rubric
Every evidence entry carries one of three labels, and we say which on the entry itself:
- Verified
- Two independent sources agree — for example, a county deed and a utility agreement that name the same parcel.
- Reported
- A single credible source, labeled as such — often press coverage awaiting a corroborating filing.
- Estimated
- An inference we drew and marked as one — for example, mapping an unnamed queue entry to a project by location and capacity.
When a project goes quiet, we record that too. Absence of filings where activity was due is a finding — dated and sourced — not a blank.
What each status means — and what it never claims
A status summarizes observed public evidence. It is never a claim about a developer's intentions: "no filings observed since March" means exactly that.
Money down, land closed, and permits filed. Multiple hard filings — an interconnection deposit or utility agreement, a recorded deed, and a permit application — corroborate each other.
Hard filings are accumulating but the set is incomplete. The project is moving; it is not yet proven. We name exactly what is present and what is still missing.
Press coverage only. No interconnection, permit, land, or agenda filing has been observed under any identifiable entity. An announcement is a claim, not a record.
Filings went quiet. Activity was due and did not appear — an expired application, an inactive queue entry, no closing after an option. Absence of evidence, dated and sourced.
The project faces organized opposition or regulatory friction — a moratorium, adopted development standards, or a contested hearing — that puts the plan in question.
The weekly ritual
- Monitoring across ERCOT, PUCT, TCEQ, seven county records systems, and municipal agendas surfaces what changed since the last review.
- An analyst reads each change against the primary source, classifies it, and drafts a neutral, past-tense entry with its confidence label.
- Corroboration is sought before an entry is called verified; a second independent source is required.
- Statuses and trends are updated only when the evidence supports it, and every project shows its own last-verified date.
- The Caliche Report goes out Monday. The board carries a global as-of date; each entry links to its public record.
Corrections policy
We publish neutral, sourced observations and we get things wrong sometimes. If a status or entry misreads the record, tell us and we will re-check it against the primary source, correct it with a dated note, and — when the correction affects a published status — say so in the next brief. A named methodology beats an anonymous database.