What the grid layer actually covers.
Stated first, because the wrong assumption here is the expensive one.
ParcelOps reads the latest actual and forecast rows from ERCOT’s public Supply and Demand dashboard, along with its six day forecast. That is system wide Texas grid context: what the grid as a whole is carrying, and what it expects to carry.
It is not the interconnection queue. It shows no queue position, no deliverability answer, and no capacity figure for a parcel, a utility, a substation, or a site. Where the dashboard supports capacity minus demand arithmetic, ParcelOps labels the subtraction for what it is and does not call it operating reserve.
ERCOT is also one grid region rather than the whole state, and ParcelOps carries the source as beta. The source page states its beta status, reuse terms, and limits.
What the land layers add.
The Texas statewide parcel service, run by the Texas Geographic Information Office, answers the question a grid tool cannot: which parcel is this, who is on the tax record, how large is it, and what does the county appraisal district say about it.
Give a point in Texas and the result keeps the county appraisal source it came from, when the record was collected, the tax year, the legal description, the owner, the mailing address, the address on the tax record, values, areas, land use codes, and the parcel shape when it is published. Around that parcel sit the 8 layers that decide whether a site survives a first pass.
Flood hazard areas
A point or a small map area checked against the flood hazard areas FEMA has mapped. An early look only. The official flood determination and any insurance requirement still run through the proper official process.
Wetlands
A point or small area checked against the National Wetlands Inventory. It does not replace an official wetland determination or a review by a professional.
Soils
USDA soil survey information at a point, for early land use, farming, and building research. Any engineering or site specific conclusion still needs a qualified professional and a current survey.
Elevation
Ground elevation at a coordinate from the USGS National Map. Background information, not a certified survey.
Critical habitat
USFWS critical habitat polygons by species, by small map area, or by distance from the site. Final designations come back by default and proposed areas only if you ask for them. An early environmental and permitting screen, not agency consultation.
Airspace
Airports, runways, obstacles, and class airspace around the site from fixed official FAA aeronautical layers, with a proposed height available as decision context. ParcelOps does not turn proximity into a notice conclusion.
Existing solar and wind
Where utility scale solar and wind are already built, from two public USGS databases. Wind rows are individual turbines, so one project returns many rows. Built assets are not evidence that land is for sale, leased, permitted, or able to connect to the grid.
Data center atlas
Existing data center points, buildings, and campuses from the open PNNL and DOE atlas, plus explicit 2035 scenarios. Projected records are modeled scenarios, not announced projects, operator plans, or proof of future power and water capacity.
Why join them in one call?
Every layer here is public. The work was never the fetching.
The work is the joining: matching a point to the parcel it falls in, carrying that location into each constraint query, keeping every answer attached to the source that produced it, and reporting the sources that came back empty rather than dropping them.
That last part is the whole difference. A screen that silently omits the layer that failed reads as a clean site. ParcelOps marks each source available, partial, unavailable, or error, so a gap stays visible in the answer instead of disappearing from it and being rediscovered during diligence.
Because it runs over MCP, the join happens where the work happens. An agent or a script asks once and gets one answer with the sources named, instead of eight tabs and a reconciliation nobody wants to repeat for the next site.
Where the screen stops.
A screen that hides its own limits is worse than no screen.
- This is screening, not an interconnection study. ParcelOps carries no queue position, no deliverability answer, and no capacity figure for any utility, substation, or site.
- This is not an environmental assessment. Flood, wetlands, soils, and habitat layers are early screens. Official determinations, agency consultation, and field review still govern.
- This is not an airspace determination. FAA Form 7460 criteria, the OE/AAA process, survey, engineering, and the formal FAA determination decide.
- A point screen is a point screen. Layers queried at a coordinate or within a distance describe the area around that location, not the whole parcel footprint. A large tract can read clear at its center and be constrained at its edge.
- Parcel records are county appraisal records. They are not title, a survey, an appraisal, or proof of who is able to sell.
- Coverage is a checked capability with limits, not a guarantee. The parcel service is Texas only, and ERCOT is one grid region rather than the whole state.
Questions siting teams ask.
Does ParcelOps carry the ERCOT interconnection queue?
No. The grid source is ERCOT’s public Supply and Demand dashboard: the latest actual and forecast rows plus the six day forecast, system wide. It is broad Texas grid context and ParcelOps lists it as a beta source. It does not show queue position, deliverability, or interconnection capacity at a parcel, a utility, a substation, or a data center site. Use it to frame a screen, not to size one.
What does the Texas parcel layer return?
The official parcel a coordinate falls in, from the StratMap Land Parcels service run by the Texas Geographic Information Office. Each result keeps the county appraisal source it came from, when the record was collected, the tax year, the legal description, the owner, the mailing address, the address on the tax record, values, areas, land use codes, and the parcel shape when it is published.
Can I screen a solar, data center, or industrial site with this?
For the first pass, yes. One call returns the parcel and the constraint layers that usually kill a site early: mapped flood hazard, wetlands, soils, elevation, critical habitat, and airspace, alongside what is already built nearby. Anything past a first pass belongs with an engineer, a surveyor, the transmission provider, and the relevant agencies.
Is this an environmental assessment?
No. The flood, wetlands, soils, and habitat layers are early screens built from published federal maps. They do not replace an official determination, agency consultation, field review, or a legal determination of any kind.
What happens when a layer returns nothing at the point?
It is reported, not dropped. ParcelOps marks every source it tried as available, partial, unavailable, or error, so a layer that failed or has no coverage stays visible in the answer instead of quietly making a site look clean.
Does capacity minus demand mean operating reserve?
No, and ParcelOps will not call it that. Where the ERCOT dashboard supports that arithmetic, the result is labeled as the simple subtraction it is. ERCOT calculates its published reserve products differently, and treating one as the other is how a screen ends up overstating headroom.
Which layers are Texas only?
The statewide parcel service is Texas only, and the grid source covers the ERCOT region rather than every part of the state. Flood, wetlands, soils, elevation, critical habitat, airspace, and the built asset databases are national, so the same screen works outside Texas without the grid and state parcel layers.
Do I need credentials for any of this?
No. Every source named on this page is public and needs no key. You sign in to ParcelOps, point an agent or a script at your endpoint, and the calls run.
Screen a site you already know.
50 tool calls total, no credit card, and calls that fail are not counted. The fastest way to judge a screening tool is to point it at ground you have already walked.
Working on affordable housing instead? Housing program eligibility checks covers tax credit designations and rural program maps.