15 domains · Facility engineering

POW Electrical Power Infrastructure and Energy Continuity

6 families and 24 controls. Critical to CG-04 Life safety and hazardous energy, CG-05 Resilient electrical supply, CG-07 Critical control-system integrity, CG-09 Failure containment, CG-10 Recovery readiness.

POW domain guide See it in the explorer

Proposed text. Requirements are from registry v1.1 (status CANDIDATE), proposed under amendment AMD-002. Intervals and thresholds are set by the assessed organisation in its capability profile. The approved v1.0 baseline uses the same identifiers.

POW-01 Utility and grid interface

MCF-POW-001 Utility Capacity

Claim operationAssurance level AL4Tier CP-5Evidence floor S5Critical to CG-05Supports CG-03

Objective. Demonstrate that contracted and physically available utility import capacity covers the declared peak site demand, including AI training clusters at full power, cooling at design ambient and battery recharge after an outage, with margin and with a forecast that precedes deployments.

Requirement and evidence

The facility owner shall hold a connection agreement stating firm import capacity and any non-firm or curtailable portions, and shall maintain a site demand model that sums IT load at declared accelerator power limits, cooling and mechanical load at design ambient, losses, and UPS/BESS recharge load. The facility owner shall show firm capacity exceeds modelled peak demand by the declared margin, shall compare modelled with metered peak demand at least quarterly, and shall not commission additional AI capacity that would erode the margin without an approved capacity increase or load-limiting measure.

Evidence required: E1 Documentary and declarative; E2 Configuration and technical state; E3 Operational and observational; E7 Derived and analytical. Optional: E5. Operating states: NORMAL, DEGRADED, RECOVERY.

MCF-POW-002 Grid Quality

Claim operationAssurance level AL4Tier CP-3Evidence floor S4Supports CG-05

Objective. Establish the actual quality of the utility supply at the point of common coupling (voltage variations, dips, swells, interruptions, unbalance, flicker and harmonics) and confirm that the facility's ride-through and conversion equipment is specified for it.

Requirement and evidence

The facility operator shall measure supply quality at each utility point of common coupling using power quality instruments conforming to IEC 61000-4-30 Class A, shall retain events and statistics for the declared period, and shall compare measured characteristics with the voltage characteristics assumed in the design basis and with the utility's declared characteristics. The facility operator shall report events that exceeded design assumptions to the electrical engineer responsible for MCF-POW-019 for evaluation.

Evidence required: E2 Configuration and technical state; E3 Operational and observational. Optional: E1, E7. Operating states: NORMAL, DEGRADED.

MCF-POW-003 Connection Reliability

Claim designAssurance level AL2Tier CP-2Evidence floor S3Supports CG-03, CG-05, CG-09

Objective. Establish the real independence and reliability of the utility connection(s), including shared upstream substations, transmission circuits and protection schemes, so that claimed dual feeds are not a single upstream fault domain.

Requirement and evidence

The facility owner shall obtain from the network operator the upstream topology of each utility feed to the first point of independent supply, and shall identify shared substations, busbars, circuits, rights-of-way and protection schemes. The facility owner shall record the historic interruption performance of each feed, and shall not describe feeds as independent in the design basis unless no shared upstream element is identified.

Evidence required: E1 Documentary and declarative; E7 Derived and analytical. Optional: E5, E6. Operating states: NORMAL, DEGRADED, EMERGENCY.

MCF-POW-004 Utility Contingency

Claim resilienceAssurance level AL5Tier CP-5Evidence floor S4Supports CG-05, CG-10

Objective. Ensure the facility can sustain declared outcomes through prolonged utility interruption, grid emergency instructions, curtailment and demand-response events, and can meet its grid connection obligations as a large load.

Requirement and evidence

The facility owner shall maintain a utility contingency plan covering prolonged interruption, grid-operator curtailment or disconnection instructions, demand-response commitments and re-energisation constraints. The facility owner shall define, for each event type, which AI workloads are shed or throttled, how cooling and IT load are reduced in a controlled sequence, the decision authority, and the communications with the network operator, and shall exercise the plan at the declared interval.

Evidence required: E1 Documentary and declarative; E3 Operational and observational; E4 Validation and test. Optional: E6, E7. Operating states: EMERGENCY, DEGRADED, RECOVERY.

POW-02 Generation and fuel

MCF-POW-005 Generator Capacity

Claim effectivenessAssurance level AL5Tier CP-5Evidence floor S5Critical to CG-05

Objective. Demonstrate that standby or prime generation can carry the declared critical load, including mechanical load and AI load dynamics, with the declared redundancy, at site design ambient and altitude, for the declared duration.

Requirement and evidence

The facility owner shall size generation using the ISO 8528-1 rating class appropriate to the duty (for example data-centre continuous power where unlimited running hours at variable load are required) with derating for design ambient temperature, altitude and fuel. The facility owner shall verify by load-bank or real-load testing at commissioning and at the declared interval that each generator, and the paralleled system, carries its rated load at the declared redundancy with one unit out of service.

Evidence required: E1 Documentary and declarative; E2 Configuration and technical state; E3 Operational and observational; E4 Validation and test. Optional: E5. Operating states: NORMAL, MAINTENANCE, EMERGENCY.

MCF-POW-006 Start Reliability

Claim operationAssurance level AL4Tier CP-5Evidence floor S5Critical to CG-05Supports CG-07

Objective. Demonstrate that generators start, synchronise and accept load within the time the UPS or BESS autonomy allows, on every demand, including after long standby periods and in cold or hot ambient.

Requirement and evidence

The facility operator shall test each generator by monthly start and run tests at the declared load and by periodic transfer tests through the automatic transfer or paralleling controls, shall record start time, time to ready-to-load and anomalies, shall maintain starting systems (batteries or air, jacket-water heating, fuel priming), and shall treat any failed or delayed start as an incident with root cause analysis.

MCF-POW-007 Fuel Autonomy

Claim operationAssurance level AL4Tier CP-5Evidence floor S5Critical to CG-05

Objective. Demonstrate that on-site fuel stored, usable and of acceptable quality supports generation at the declared load for the declared autonomy, without relying on deliveries during that period.

Requirement and evidence

The facility operator shall maintain usable on-site fuel (excluding unusable tank bottoms and day-tank minimums) sufficient for the declared autonomy at the declared load, using measured consumption curves, and shall keep the minimum stock level as an alarmed threshold. The facility operator shall test fuel quality at the declared interval against the applicable fuel specification, shall polish or replace fuel that fails, and shall maintain fuel transfer pumps and controls in a redundant configuration matching the generator redundancy.

MCF-POW-008 Fuel Replenishment

Claim resilienceAssurance level AL5Tier CP-5Evidence floor S4Supports CG-05, CG-03, CG-10

Objective. Ensure that fuel can be replenished before on-site autonomy is exhausted during a regional emergency, when road access, supplier capacity and competing priority customers are constrained.

Requirement and evidence

The facility owner shall hold fuel supply contracts with at least the declared number of independent suppliers, specifying guaranteed delivery lead time during declared emergencies, priority status and delivery capacity. The facility operator shall maintain a refuelling procedure that includes delivery while generators run, and shall exercise a delivery under emergency conditions or verify supplier capability at the declared interval.

Evidence required: E1 Documentary and declarative; E3 Operational and observational; E4 Validation and test. Optional: E5, E6. Operating states: EMERGENCY, RECOVERY.

POW-03 UPS and energy storage

MCF-POW-009 UPS Topology

Claim implementationAssurance level AL3Tier CP-5Evidence floor S5Critical to CG-05Supports CG-09, CG-02

Objective. Demonstrate that the as-built UPS and critical distribution topology (N, N+1, 2N, distributed or block redundant, or rack-level battery backup) delivers the declared Service Outcomes in every declared operating state, judged by failure analysis rather than by topology label.

Requirement and evidence

The electrical engineer of record shall document the UPS topology and IEC 62040-3 performance classification of each system, and shall perform a failure analysis that, for every single component failure and every planned maintenance state, identifies the critical load that remains supported and the resulting loading of surviving modules. The facility owner shall reconcile the as-built single-line diagram to the analysis and shall not claim a redundancy level the analysis does not support for the declared load.

Evidence required: E1 Documentary and declarative; E2 Configuration and technical state; E3 Operational and observational; E7 Derived and analytical. Optional: E4, E5. Operating states: NORMAL, MAINTENANCE, DEGRADED, TRANSITION.

MCF-POW-010 Battery Condition

Claim operationAssurance level AL4Tier CP-5Evidence floor S5Critical to CG-04Supports CG-05

Objective. Ensure UPS, BESS and rack-level batteries retain the capacity assumed in runtime claims and that lithium-ion and lead-acid hazards (thermal runaway, off-gassing, hydrogen evolution) are detected and managed before they cause fire or loss of energy storage.

Requirement and evidence

The facility operator shall monitor battery condition continuously (cell or block voltage, temperature, internal resistance or impedance, and for lithium-ion the battery management system state of health and alarms), shall perform capacity tests at the declared interval, and shall replace batteries at the end-of-life capacity threshold. The facility owner shall hold a battery safety assessment for each lithium-ion installation, using large-scale fire test data (for example UL 9540A) to set separation, ventilation, explosion control and detection, and shall maintain hydrogen ventilation for vented lead-acid rooms.

Evidence required: E1 Documentary and declarative; E2 Configuration and technical state; E3 Operational and observational; E4 Validation and test; E5 Independent and third-party. Optional: E7. Operating states: NORMAL, MAINTENANCE, DEGRADED, EMERGENCY.

MCF-POW-011 Runtime and Derating

Claim effectivenessAssurance level AL5Tier CP-5Evidence floor S5Critical to CG-05

Objective. Demonstrate that UPS and BESS runtime at the declared load, at end-of-life battery capacity and worst-case room temperature, exceeds the time needed for generators to accept load (or for orderly workload preservation where no generation exists) with margin.

Requirement and evidence

The electrical engineer shall calculate runtime per UPS system at the declared load using end-of-life capacity and the battery temperature derating at the highest declared battery room temperature, and shall compare it with the generator start-to-load time and the time needed to checkpoint or gracefully pause AI workloads. The facility operator shall verify runtime by a discharge test at the declared interval and shall recalculate after load growth.

Evidence required: E1 Documentary and declarative; E2 Configuration and technical state; E3 Operational and observational; E4 Validation and test. Optional: E5, E7. Operating states: NORMAL, EMERGENCY, MAINTENANCE.

MCF-POW-012 Bypass Exposure

Claim operationAssurance level AL4Tier CP-3Evidence floor S4Supports CG-05, CG-09

Objective. Ensure that time spent with critical load on static or maintenance bypass, eco-mode or other unconditioned paths is known, minimised, authorised and accounted for in risk, because the load is then exposed directly to utility or generator disturbances.

Requirement and evidence

The facility operator shall log every transfer of critical load to static bypass, maintenance bypass or eco-mode with start, end, cause and authorisation, shall alarm and escalate any unplanned bypass within the declared time, shall require approval for planned bypass and verify return to normal, and shall report cumulative bypass exposure per system at the declared interval.

Evidence required: E2 Configuration and technical state; E3 Operational and observational. Optional: E1, E7. Operating states: NORMAL, MAINTENANCE, DEGRADED.

POW-04 Distribution and protection

MCF-POW-013 Switchgear Integrity

Claim operationAssurance level AL4Tier CP-5Evidence floor S4Critical to CG-04Supports CG-05

Objective. Ensure MV and LV switchgear, transformers and switchboards are maintained in a safe and serviceable condition and that arc-flash hazards are quantified, labelled, minimised and controlled for all persons working on or near them.

Requirement and evidence

The electrical duty holder shall maintain a current arc-flash risk assessment (incident energy analysis) for all switchgear, switchboards, busway and PDUs, shall label equipment with incident energy or PPE category and boundaries, shall apply incident-energy reduction measures where assessed energy exceeds the declared threshold (for example maintenance switches, arc-flash relays, arc-resistant switchgear), and shall perform condition maintenance including infrared thermography, MV partial-discharge monitoring and breaker testing at the declared intervals.

Evidence required: E1 Documentary and declarative; E3 Operational and observational; E4 Validation and test; E5 Independent and third-party. Optional: E2. Operating states: NORMAL, MAINTENANCE.

MCF-POW-014 Selective Coordination

Claim implementationAssurance level AL3Tier CP-5Evidence floor S4Critical to CG-09Supports CG-05

Objective. Ensure that protective devices are selective so that a fault is cleared by the device nearest to it, limiting loss of supply to the smallest fault domain, across utility, generator and UPS (inverter-limited) fault-current sources.

Requirement and evidence

The electrical engineer of record shall maintain a short-circuit and protection coordination study covering every source configuration (utility, generator, UPS inverter, bypass) and the declared maintenance states, and shall demonstrate selectivity from the rack PDU branch up to the main incomers within the declared fault-current range. The facility operator shall ensure as-found protection settings match the study by periodic setting extraction and secondary injection testing.

Evidence required: E1 Documentary and declarative; E2 Configuration and technical state; E4 Validation and test; E7 Derived and analytical. Optional: E5. Operating states: NORMAL, MAINTENANCE, EMERGENCY.

MCF-POW-015 Busway and PDU Capacity

Claim operationAssurance level AL4Tier CP-3Evidence floor S4Supports CG-05, CG-14

Objective. Ensure overhead busway, tap-off units, remote power panels and rack PDUs are rated for the continuous and peak load of dense AI racks, are balanced across phases, and keep capacity in failover states where one feed carries the full rack load.

Requirement and evidence

The facility operator shall maintain a capacity register for every busway run, tap-off and rack PDU showing rating, continuous load limit, measured peak per phase and failover load (the load each feed must carry if its partner fails). The facility operator shall prevent provisioning that would cause failover load to exceed the continuous limit and shall correct phase imbalance above the declared threshold.

Evidence required: E2 Configuration and technical state; E3 Operational and observational; E7 Derived and analytical. Optional: E1. Operating states: NORMAL, DEGRADED, MAINTENANCE.

MCF-POW-016 Earthing and Bonding

Claim implementationAssurance level AL3Tier CP-4Evidence floor S4Critical to CG-04Supports CG-05

Objective. Ensure that earthing, equipotential bonding and lightning protection protect people against electric shock, provide fault-current return for protective devices and limit noise and transient damage to IT equipment, including metallic liquid-cooling pipework.

Requirement and evidence

The electrical engineer of record shall design the earthing system (system earthing type, earth electrodes, main earthing terminal, supplementary bonding) and the facility operator shall verify it by initial and periodic inspection and testing, including earth electrode resistance, protective conductor continuity, earth fault loop impedance and bonding of liquid-cooling pipework, manifolds, raised floors and cable containment.

Evidence required: E1 Documentary and declarative; E3 Operational and observational; E4 Validation and test; E5 Independent and third-party. Optional: E2. Operating states: NORMAL, MAINTENANCE.

POW-05 Power quality and transient response

MCF-POW-017 Voltage Quality

Claim operationAssurance level AL4Tier CP-3Evidence floor S3Supports CG-05

Objective. Ensure voltage delivered to critical IT and cooling loads stays within equipment tolerance in all source configurations, including on generator and during load swings from AI clusters.

Requirement and evidence

The facility operator shall monitor voltage magnitude, unbalance and short-duration variations at UPS outputs, critical switchboards and a representative sample of rack PDUs, shall compare results with the tolerance of connected equipment (power supply unit specifications and the ITIC/CBEMA or SEMI F47 curves where adopted), and shall investigate excursions.

Evidence required: E2 Configuration and technical state; E3 Operational and observational. Optional: E7. Operating states: NORMAL, EMERGENCY, DEGRADED.

MCF-POW-018 Harmonics

Claim operationAssurance level AL4Tier CP-3Evidence floor S4Supports CG-05

Objective. Ensure harmonic distortion from rectifier-based IT loads, UPS, VFDs and BESS inverters is within limits at the point of common coupling and internally, does not overheat transformers, neutrals or generators, and does not cause resonance with filters or power-factor correction.

Requirement and evidence

The electrical engineer shall perform a harmonic study for the declared load mix covering utility and generator source configurations, and the facility operator shall measure voltage and current harmonics at the PCC and at critical boards. The facility owner shall keep harmonic emissions at the PCC within the limits of the connection agreement (for example IEEE 519 or the applicable IEC 61000-3 limits) and shall derate or specify transformers and generators for measured harmonic content.

Evidence required: E1 Documentary and declarative; E2 Configuration and technical state; E3 Operational and observational. Optional: E7. Operating states: NORMAL, EMERGENCY.

MCF-POW-019 Transient Ride-Through

Claim effectivenessAssurance level AL5Tier CP-5Evidence floor S5Critical to CG-05Supports CG-06

Objective. Demonstrate that critical IT, cooling and control loads ride through grid voltage dips, transfers between sources and switching transients without loss of service, and that the facility meets any fault ride-through obligations of its grid connection.

Requirement and evidence

The electrical engineer shall define the ride-through envelope for each load class (IT, CDU and pump drives, chillers, controls), including source transfers (UPS to bypass, static transfer switch, ATS, generator synchronisation) and grid dips. The facility owner shall verify by commissioning and periodic transfer tests that loads remain online for transfers within the envelope, shall ensure mechanical loads not on UPS restart automatically within the thermal time constant, and shall document compliance with connection-agreement ride-through requirements.

MCF-POW-020 Load-Step Response

Claim effectivenessAssurance level AL5Tier CP-5Evidence floor S5Critical to CG-05Supports CG-03

Objective. Demonstrate that UPS, BESS, generators and the grid connection remain stable under the load steps and synchronous power oscillations produced by large accelerator clusters (collective compute/communication phases, job start and stop, checkpoint pauses and failure-driven drops), and that these dynamics are bounded within the capability of every source.

Requirement and evidence

The facility owner shall characterise the power dynamics of each AI cluster (step magnitude, ramp rate, oscillation amplitude and frequency band), using measured data at sub-second resolution or the accelerator vendor's specified behaviour, and shall verify that UPS rectifier and inverter controls, BESS, generator governors and voltage regulators, and the grid connection tolerate them without instability, protective trips or breach of connection limits. Where they do not, the facility owner shall apply mitigation (accelerator power-smoothing or ramp-limit features, workload scheduling, energy-storage buffering) and shall verify it by test, including a load-step test on generator supply.

POW-06 Electrical monitoring, maintenance and recovery

MCF-POW-021 EPMS Coverage

Claim implementationAssurance level AL3Tier CP-4Evidence floor S4Critical to CG-07Supports CG-05, CG-15

Objective. Ensure the electrical power monitoring system observes every critical node with accurate, time-synchronised data and alarms, functions independently of the systems it monitors, and is configured and protected as a critical control system.

Requirement and evidence

The facility operator shall instrument every utility incomer, generator, UPS, STS, critical switchboard, busway and representative rack PDU with metering connected to the EPMS, shall synchronise device clocks to the declared accuracy for sequence-of-events analysis, shall configure alarms per an approved alarm philosophy, and shall power the EPMS and its network from protected supplies. The facility operator shall maintain the EPMS configuration under change control and its access under SEC controls.

Evidence required: E1 Documentary and declarative; E2 Configuration and technical state; E3 Operational and observational; E4 Validation and test. Optional: E7. Operating states: NORMAL, TRANSITION, EMERGENCY.

MCF-POW-022 Preventive Maintenance

Claim operationAssurance level AL4Tier CP-3Evidence floor S4Supports CG-05

Objective. Ensure electrical assets are maintained at intervals and to scopes that keep their reliability and safety within the assumptions of the design and resilience analysis, without maintenance itself introducing unmanaged risk.

Requirement and evidence

The facility operator shall maintain a maintenance programme for each electrical asset class (switchgear, transformers, UPS, batteries, generators, ATS/STS, busway, PDUs, protection relays) with scopes and intervals based on manufacturer requirements and recognised maintenance practice, shall complete maintenance on time, and shall record deferrals with risk assessment and approval.

Evidence required: E1 Documentary and declarative; E3 Operational and observational. Optional: E7. Operating states: NORMAL, MAINTENANCE.

MCF-POW-023 Switching Procedures

Claim operationAssurance level AL4Tier CP-4Evidence floor S4Critical to CG-04Supports CG-07, CG-14

Objective. Ensure that every planned and emergency switching operation on critical distribution is performed to an approved, verified procedure by authorised persons, with hazardous energy controlled, so that switching neither injures people nor drops critical load.

Requirement and evidence

The electrical duty holder shall require a method of procedure (MOP) for every planned switching operation on critical distribution, prepared from the current single-line diagram, checked by a second authorised person, and executed with step verification. The electrical duty holder shall maintain emergency operating procedures for foreseeable failures, shall apply lockout/tagout and permit-to-work for isolation, and shall authorise persons for switching by competence assessment.

Evidence required: E1 Documentary and declarative; E3 Operational and observational; E5 Independent and third-party. Optional: E6. Operating states: MAINTENANCE, EMERGENCY, TRANSITION.

MCF-POW-024 Black-Start and Restoration

Claim resilienceAssurance level AL5Tier CP-5Evidence floor S5Critical to CG-10Supports CG-05, CG-07

Objective. Demonstrate that after a total loss of power the site can be restored from a dead state, in a safe and dependency-correct sequence (controls, cooling, then IT), within the declared recovery time, and that AI workloads can resume.

Requirement and evidence

The facility owner shall maintain a black-start and restoration plan that defines the restoration sequence, the dependencies of each step (control power, EPMS/BMS availability, cooling restart, battery recharge limits, inrush and staged load pick-up on generator), the authority to proceed, and the hand-over to IT for workload restart. The facility owner shall exercise the plan at the declared interval, either by a full integrated test or by staged tests that together cover every step, and shall measure time to each milestone.

Evidence required: E1 Documentary and declarative; E2 Configuration and technical state; E3 Operational and observational; E4 Validation and test. Optional: E5, E6. Operating states: FAILED, RECOVERY, SHUTDOWN.

Source: controls.csv, evidence-profiles.csv and gate-mappings.csv.