HODSONInfrastructure Advisors
Hodson Infrastructure Advisors · HIA

We take early-stage power
and data centre projects
to institutional capital.

An advisory boutique for developers and lenders. We buy and sell data centres, raise sponsor, debt and tax equity capital for solar and storage, and clear the permitting and utility risk that keeps good projects from getting funded.

Permitted campus
600MW

Greensville County data centre campus, taken through county entitlement.

Developed and sold
650MW

Solar and storage developed across PJM, with over 400 MW sold to owners and IPPs.

Capital raised
$55MM+

Private credit and development capital, on our own projects before anyone else's.

The missing middle

Too many projects, not enough that an investment committee can actually underwrite.

There is no shortage of early-stage solar, storage and data centre projects. There is a shortage of projects that have retired their binary risks - the ones that do not get priced, only cleared. A project either has interconnection or it does not. It either has a county behind it or it does not. It either has water and gas or it does not.

Institutional capital cannot bridge that gap, and most developers cannot staff it. That space between a control position and a bankable asset is the missing middle, and it is where HIA works.

GREENFIELD NOTICE TO PROCEED Developer capital Land, options, early studies Founder and friends-and-family Institutional capital Sponsor equity, debt, tax equity Underwrites priced risk only THE MISSING MIDDLE Binary risks, unpriced Interconnection · entitlement · land Water · gas · offtake funds to here enters from here HIA clears and packages
Developer capital funds a project only as far as site control. Institutional capital will not step back past the point where risk stops being priceable. HIA works the span between: retiring the binary items one by one, then packaging the result into something a committee can approve.
InterconnectionQueue position, study milestones, network upgrade exposure.
EntitlementRezoning, special use, conditions and the county timeline.
LandTitle, assembly, option ladders and setback constraints.
Water & gasSupply commitments, midstream capacity and easements.
OfftakeCounterparty credit, tenor and the shape of the contract.
What we do

Three mandates, run by people who have been the developer.

We are not a research desk. Every mandate is staffed by people who have originated, permitted, financed, built and sold the same assets our clients are trying to move.

01

M&A advisory

Buy-side and sell-side for data centre campuses, powered land and operating renewable portfolios.

  • Sell-side processes for sites, campuses and platforms
  • Buy-side origination and diligence for funds and strategics
  • Powered-land and shell-to-turnkey transactions
  • Portfolio carve-outs and development-stage asset sales
  • Valuation, bid evaluation and negotiation support
02

Capital formation

Raising the full stack for solar, storage and digital infrastructure developers.

  • Sponsor and platform equity
  • Development capital and pre-NTP bridge facilities
  • Senior, mezzanine and construction debt
  • Tax equity and transferability structures
  • Lender and investor materials, model review, data room
03

Permitting & utility engagement

The work that actually clears the binary risk, run in-house rather than referred out.

  • County and municipal entitlement strategy
  • Power, water and midstream gas utility engagement
  • Interconnection and load-service applications
  • Schematic and conceptual site design
  • Community outreach and public hearing support
Permitting & utility engagement

Most projects die at the county, or at the utility.

Financing problems are usually permitting problems wearing a suit. We run the entitlement and the utility engagement ourselves, because the answers determine whether a project is financeable at all.

County & entitlement

  • Jurisdictional screening - zoning posture, comprehensive plan fit and precedent in the county
  • Rezoning and special use - application strategy, proffers and negotiated conditions
  • Schematic design - conceptual site layout, buildings, substation and setbacks for hearing packages
  • Studies and exhibits - traffic, noise, visual, stormwater and the exhibits a board actually reads
  • Hearings - staff engagement, planning commission and board of supervisors through to approval

Utility engagement

  • Power - load-service requests, ESA negotiation, interconnection queue and upgrade exposure
  • Midstream gas - lateral capacity, interconnect agreements, easements and behind-the-meter generation
  • Water - supply and discharge commitments, cooling demand, municipal and well-based options
  • Speed to power - bridging options where the grid timeline is longer than the tenant's
  • Coordination - one team across all three utilities, so the schedule holds together
Track record

The platform behind the advice.

HIA is the advisory arm of the Hodson platform. The same team originated and developed roughly 650 MW of solar and storage across PJM, raised over $55 million of private capital against it, and sold more than 400 MW on to owners and independent power producers.

On the digital infrastructure side, the team permitted the 600 MW Greensville County data centre campus in Virginia and continues to develop and permit data centre projects alongside Truss Energy. That work is why we understand what a hyperscaler diligence list looks like, and why a neocloud's timeline is not the same as a utility's.

600 MWGreensville County, VAData centre campus permitted through county entitlement
650 MWPJM solar & storageOriginated and developed to notice-to-proceed
400 MWSoldDeveloped projects transacted to owners and IPPs
$55 MMCapital raisedPrivate credit and development capital
80 yrsCombined experienceDevelopment, engineering, project finance and operations
The universe of offtakers

Who actually takes the power, and what each one needs to sign.

A project is only as financeable as its counterparty. We position an asset against the offtaker most likely to clear it, and we shape the contract to what that class of buyer can approve.

Class 01 Hyperscalers Investment-grade, long tenor, exacting diligence. Slowest to sign, cheapest capital once they do.
Class 02 Neoclouds GPU-cloud operators moving on AI timelines. Speed to power beats price; credit is the question to solve.
Class 03 Data centre operators Colocation and wholesale developers taking powered land and shells, often ahead of a named tenant.
Class 04 Utilities & load-serving entities IOUs, municipals and co-ops procuring under RFP. Bankable, prescriptive, schedule-driven.
Class 05 Corporate C&I Virtual and physical PPAs against corporate load. Credit and accounting treatment drive the structure.
Class 06 Merchant & IPP Hedged merchant offtake and IPP acquirers underwriting basis, shape and capture risk.
How we engage

Six weeks from first call to a position we can take to market.

We take a small number of mandates at a time. If a project cannot be made financeable we say so in week one rather than run a process that will not clear.

Screen

A short call and a document list. We tell you plainly whether the binary risks are clearable, what the realistic timeline is, and whether we are the right people for it. No fee.

Diagnose

Two weeks on the specific items standing between the project and an investment committee - queue position, entitlement posture, utility commitments, offtake, model integrity. You get a written risk register whether or not we go further.

Clear

We take the work on: county strategy and hearings, utility engagement across power, gas and water, schematic design, and the diligence package. Priced as a retainer against a success fee.

Transact

Sale, capital raise or both. Targeted outreach to the buyers and lenders most likely to clear this asset, a managed process, and negotiation through to signing.

Contact

Send us the project you cannot get funded.

Developers, sponsors, lenders and funds. Tell us the asset, the stage and the item that is blocking it. We respond within two working days, and we will tell you honestly if the answer is no.

Start a mandate
United States
365 S End Ave, Ste 2G,
New York, NY 10280
+1 917-478-6465