I don't see reliable power as a big differentiator since even in the first world your data center anyway needs backup generators; it's just that they would get

I don't see reliable power as a big differentiator since even in the first world your data center anyway needs backup generators; it's just that they would get used much more often. Generators have several costs. 1. Fixed costs 2. Maintenance costs 3. Operating costs #2 and #3 are lower for a generator you run 8 hours a year versus 800 hours a year. And you may want added redundancy for your generator capacity if you plan to run off generator power frequently, so #1 can be higher too. (I broke out maintenance costs from operating costs since there's fixed maintenance costs even if you never run the generator, and there's variable maintenance costs based on the number of hours you run it) It's been a long time since I've rented coloc space, but at the time, the cost of the power drops to the cage cost more than the space itself. Conditioned reliable power is expensive.