5 practitioner guides by Julian R. Sterling, best read first at the top. Each one is built on a single worked case, and every figure it prints is a live formula in a free workbook.
The quickest way into infrastructure, data centres and energy is The Data Center Development Handbook, the most read title in this list. The others go deeper into one job or one asset each. Every book below has a free companion page with the workbooks, so the arithmetic can be checked before the book is bought.
Site Selection, Power Procurement, and Grid Interconnection: A Practical Career Guide to the Deal Side of AI Infrastructure
Three business models on the same 180 MW site, an interest rate taken out of the chapter rather than the air, and what a twelve-month slip costs.
Worked example: Does a twelve-month energisation delay cost more than an eight per cent rent miss?
Worked example: Is powered shell or turnkey data centre development the better return?
Worked example: How much leasable IT capacity does a higher PUE cost?
Worked example: What starting rent matches a 3% data centre lease escalator?
Worked example: How does load factor change a data centre's demand charge per MWh?
Worked example: What hit rate does a powered land data centre strategy need?
Worked example: How much does a data centre cost to build per MW?
Worked example: How do you convert data centre rent per kW to per square foot?
Worked example: How much electricity does a 100 MW data centre use a year?
Worked example: How many racks does 1 MW of data centre capacity support?
Worked example: How much water does a 100 MW data centre use a year?
Worked example: How does a virtual PPA hedge a data centre's power cost?
Worked example: What does on-site gas power cost a data centre per MWh?
Worked example: How much revenue does a data centre make per MW?
Worked example: How do you calculate the levered IRR of a data centre development?
Worked example: How much land does a data centre need per MW?
Worked example: How much diesel does a data centre need for 48 hours of backup?
Worked example: Should a data centre be built in one phase or several?
Worked example: How many tons of cooling does a data centre need per MW?
Worked example: How many MVA of grid capacity does a 100 MW data centre need?
A Practical Career and Implementation Guide to Deals, Diligence, and Asset Management
Every figure the book states reproduces exactly, except three. One asset valued twice to the last decimal, and a 33 versus 72 per cent gap.
Worked example: Does a constant WACC overstate value when the debt amortises?
Worked example: How much more debt does sculpting to a DSCR raise than an annuity?
Worked example: How do you calculate the LLCR, and why is it not the DSCR?
Worked example: How much debt does sizing on P90 instead of P50 cost?
Worked example: How do you calculate CFADS in project finance?
Worked example: How is allowed revenue calculated under a RAB model?
Worked example: Project IRR vs equity IRR: how do you calculate both?
Worked example: How do you value a concession at exit when there is no terminal value?
Worked example: Real vs nominal discount rate: what does mixing them cost?
Worked example: How do you calculate cash yield on an infrastructure investment?
Worked example: How do you unlever and relever beta for an infrastructure asset?
Worked example: How are availability payment deductions calculated in a PPP?
Worked example: How do you calculate toll road revenue from traffic?
Worked example: How do you size a major maintenance reserve account (MMRA)?
Worked example: How do you calculate the premium to RAB for a regulated utility?
Worked example: How much does inflation indexation protect an infrastructure return?
Worked example: How much does a distribution lock-up cost project equity?
Worked example: How much cash does a dividend trap lock in a project company?
Worked example: How much does traffic ramp-up take off a toll road's value?
Worked example: How is equity compensated when a PPP is terminated early?
A Practitioner's Guide to the Flat Book, the Hours It Averages Away, and the Margin Call That Arrives First
The four workbooks behind Energy Trading: the price duration curve and the two averages it yields, one power station valued four ways, the load shape that takes 86.0857 per cent of a retail margin, and the day-one cash call that depends on where the paperwork sits.
Worked example: How much of a fixed-price retail margin does the load shape take?
Worked example: How do you calculate a clean spark spread?
Worked example: How do you calculate a solar capture price and capture rate?
Worked example: How do you calculate the off-peak power price from base and peak?
Worked example: How do you calculate variation margin on power futures?
Worked example: How do you calculate the implied heat rate of a power price?
Worked example: How do you calculate the hedge ratio of a power plant?
Worked example: How do you calculate mark-to-market on a power forward?
Worked example: How much does a planned outage cost a gas-fired power plant?
Worked example: How long must a gas plant run to cover its start-up cost?
Worked example: How do you calculate battery storage arbitrage revenue?
Worked example: How do you price a power plant tolling agreement?
Worked example: How do you calculate the intrinsic value of gas storage?
Worked example: How do you calculate the coal-to-gas switching carbon price?
Worked example: How do you build a price duration curve from hourly prices?
Worked example: How do you size the gas hedge for a gas-fired power plant?
Worked example: How do you value a spark spread option with Kirk's formula?
Worked example: How do you calculate the imbalance cost of a wind farm?
Worked example: How do you value a financial transmission right (FTR)?
Worked example: How do you convert pence per therm to euros per MWh?
Data Centers, Fiber, Towers and the Power Behind AI by the Numbers
The four workbooks behind The Digital Infrastructure Investor: a data center leased to a hyperscaler, a fiber-to-the-home network and 850 towers, modeled by live formula with every printed figure checked, plus blank models and a timed test with its answer key.
Worked example: How does the tenancy ratio drive cell tower returns?
Worked example: What penetration rate does an FTTH network need to earn 10%?
Worked example: What multiple should you pay for a cell tower ground lease buyout?
Worked example: Cost per home passed vs cost per home connected: how do they link?
Worked example: How does a data centre make money on power pass-through?
Worked example: How much of a data centre's price does the signed lease cover?
Worked example: How do you value a data centre per MW?
Worked example: How do you calculate a fibre customer's lifetime value with churn?
Worked example: Open access vs retail fibre: which earns the higher IRR?
Worked example: What EBITDA multiple can you pay for a cell tower portfolio?
Worked example: How is a dark fibre IRU priced against leasing the fibre?
Worked example: Does a liquid cooling retrofit pay at data centre lease end?
Worked example: How much does a mobile carrier merger cost a cell tower owner?
Worked example: What price per home passed should you pay for a fibre network?
Worked example: What does a grid connection delay cost a data centre?
Worked example: How much debt can a data centre support?
Worked example: How much debt can a cell tower portfolio carry?
Worked example: How much is a lease amendment worth to a cell tower owner?
Worked example: How much are cross-connects worth to a data centre?
Worked example: How much power does a 100,000-GPU AI cluster need?
The two Excel workbooks behind The Project Finance Handbook: a 96 MW data center that costs 614.4 million to build and 657.4 million to fund, carries 427.3 million of debt and returns 16.60 per cent to equity with only 2.41 points of it coming from the exit, and a 220 MW solar and storage project that returns 5.59 per cent with a thirty per cent investment tax credit and 0.13 per cent without one. No circular references, the funding loop unrolled one pass per column, and every figure in the book reproduced by a live formula.
Worked example: How much debt does a 65 per cent loan-to-cost cap refuse?
Worked example: How do you size a DSRA, and is a letter of credit cheaper?
Worked example: How do you calculate interest during construction?
Worked example: How do you calculate the LCOE of a solar project?
Worked example: How does a project finance cash flow waterfall work?
Worked example: How do you solve the circular reference in project finance funding?
Worked example: What is a good DSCR for a project finance loan?
Worked example: ITC vs PTC: which tax credit is worth more for a solar project?
Worked example: How do you calculate the break-even PPA price for a target IRR?
Worked example: How long should the debt tail be in project finance?
Worked example: How much does an equity bridge loan raise project equity IRR?
Worked example: How much is the merchant tail worth in a solar project?
Worked example: How does a tax equity partnership flip work, and when does it flip?
Worked example: How does a mini-perm loan work in project finance?
Worked example: How do you calculate a refinancing gain on a PPP project?
Worked example: How much back-leverage can a project's equity distributions support?
Worked example: How do you size a decommissioning reserve for a wind or solar project?
Worked example: How much does grid curtailment cut a wind farm's debt capacity?
Worked example: How much more is a solar project worth at COD than at financial close?
Worked example: How do you size delay in start-up (DSU) insurance for a project?
Start with The Data Center Development Handbook by Julian R. Sterling. It is the most read title in this list, and like the others it is built on one fully specified worked case whose every printed figure is reproduced in a free Excel workbook.
Yes. Every title in this guide has a free companion page on julianrsterling.com with the workbooks, blank templates and checklists. They need no account and no email address.
Analysts, associates and managers who need to compute the numbers rather than describe them: each book follows one case from the first input to the decision, at practitioner level.
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