Edge sites

How it works, part by part

1. 1
   Host site. The building or plant the small site sits in. At the example it is a hydroelectric plant.^[2]
2. 2
   Local power supply. Supplies the electricity. At the example, surplus hydropower from the plant. The turbine shapes are illustrative.^[2] In the guide: Grid connection and substation
3. 3
   Power distribution. Changes the voltage and shares power out to the equipment.^[1] In the guide: Transformers and switchgear
4. 4
   Uninterruptible power supply (UPS). Provides backup power, and can run on battery banks or other technologies.^[3] In the guide: Transformers and switchgear
5. 5
   Backup supply. Covers times when the main supply falls short. At the example, the plan was some probable diesel in winter. Drawn in outline, since not every site has one.^[2] In the guide: Backup generators
6. 6
   Small room or enclosure. Holds the equipment: a closet, a room or a very small data center.^[1]
7. 7
   Racks of equipment. Hold the computing equipment, which runs continuously to answer network requests.^[1] In the guide: Data halls and servers
8. 8
   Network link. Connects the site into a wider network, where it serves as a point of presence, a place the network can be reached.^[1]
9. 9
   Cooling. Removes heat from the room. Many small sites use refrigerant-based room units.^[1] In the guide: Cooling inside the building
10. 10
    Heat released. Where the heat goes varies by site. At the example, the source writes of cold meltwater.^[2] In the guide: Heat out

How power moves

1. True of data centers generally Power usually arrives from the utility at a higher voltage. A transformer steps it down, and it passes through switchgear and backup equipment before it is shared out to the racks.^[4] Parts 2, 3, 4, 5
2. This type A national lab’s model assumes smaller categories run with lower power-supply efficiency.^[1] That is an assumption about a category, not a ranking. Part 4
3. One example At the example, the utility’s chief executive said the server was 20 feet from the generators, inside a hydroelectric plant.^[2] Parts 1, 2

How heat moves

1. True of data centers generally In air-cooled halls, the aim is to keep cooling air from mixing with hot exhaust air.^[3] Part 7
2. True of data centers generally Refrigerant-based room units are common in small and midsize data centers.^[1] Part 9
3. This type A national lab’s model assumes narrower allowed temperature ranges for the smallest categories.^[1] That is an assumption about a category, not a ranking. Part 9
4. One example At the example, the National Laboratory of the Rockies writes that cold mountain meltwater helps cool the server racks.^[2] Parts 9, 10

How this type differs

These differences come from how the sources define each type. None of them makes one type preferable.

• A hyperscale site is built at massive scale. Edge sites are small and placed out across a network.^[1] Hyperscale campus
• Federal reporting draws a line here: the budget office treats small server closets and telecom closets as spaces not designed to be data centers.^[5] That is federal reporting only, and it does not decide what counts as an edge site elsewhere. Enterprise and government data center
• A carrier hotel is a landlord’s building with many tenants. A telecom edge site is the communications company’s own equipment.^[1] Carrier hotel (telecom hotel)

One real example

Greensparc Cordova Data Center (Humpback Creek Hydro) is one example of this type, chosen by hand. It is one of 5 such examples; most records on this site are not typed, including 3,110 of the 3,115 source listings on the opening map, which can overlap.

The National Laboratory of the Rockies, formerly NREL, calls the Humpback Creek hydroelectric facility in Cordova, Alaska, the site of an edge data center pilot project.^[2]

• That laboratory writes that Greensparc delivered a 170-kilowatt computing capacity directly inside the plant, several miles north of town. That is capacity delivered in the pilot, not measured load.^[2]
• It wrote that surplus hydropower, with some probable diesel in winter, will power the local data center.^[2]
• It writes that cold mountain meltwater helps cool the server racks.^[2]

That laboratory calls this a pilot and writes about it in past and future tenses, so this page does not say it is operating today.

Questions to ask about a project of this type

1. How big is it in fact, and is “edge” a description of its use or a sales word?
2. Whose network or service does it support?
3. Where does the building or container sit, and what else shares the site?
4. Does it have its own backup, or does it rely on the host site?
5. How does it reject heat, and is any of that heat reused?

Go further on this site

All types of data center · How data centers work · The 3D map · A megawatt of what?

Sources

1. 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report (LBNL-2001637). Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. National laboratory. Cited at Table 4.1, p. 36; p. 35; p. 39; Table 4.1; p. 36; p. 40; p. 42. Captured 3 November 2026.
2. In Alaska, a Data Center Inside a Power Plant, Inside a Microgrid. National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly NREL), U.S. Department of Energy. National laboratory. Cited at introduction; Pilot on the Creek; photo caption. Captured 3 November 2026.
3. Best Practices Guide for Energy-Efficient Data Center Design (revised July 2024). U.S. Department of Energy, Federal Energy Management Program. Government. Cited at section 6.1.1; section 4. Captured 2 November 2026.
4. Data Center Power Equipment Thermal Guidelines and Best Practices, TC 9.9 white paper. ASHRAE Technical Committee 9.9. Standards group. Cited at power distribution overview. Captured 3 November 2026.
5. M-19-19, Update to Data Center Optimization Initiative. Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget. Government. Cited at p. 4. Captured 3 November 2026.

Sources were captured on the date shown and can change. An operator’s explanation is used only for how a part works, never for a definition or a comparison.