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The kOAinitiative

Go / No-Go checklist

This page is a commissioning gate: a simple, auditable way to decide whether a Kristal Farms site is ready to move from “build” to “operate.”

A Go is not optimism. It is evidence that the system can run safely, compliantly, and legitimately, including when conditions degrade.

How to use this checklist

Minimum Go (Phase 1 readiness)

The minimum standard

You can launch Phase 1 when the site can reliably deliver compute, heat recovery, and connectivity while proving environmental compliance and governance legitimacy.

Go / No-Go gates

1) Community legitimacy (non-negotiable)

Consent + benefit agreement executed
Signed agreements are in place (community benefit, local priorities, dispute mechanisms).
Evidence required
  • Signed agreements and governance charter
  • Defined community services (heat endpoints, connectivity commitments where applicable)
  • Named liaisons and escalation path
Operating boundaries agreed
Clear limits on what the operator can and cannot do/see (tenancy boundaries, privacy, monitoring scope).
Evidence required
  • Tenancy model + monitoring policy (black-box boundary)
  • Site access policy (roles, approvals, logs)
  • Incident response commitments (who is contacted, when, and how)

2) Site, safety, and compliance

Safety systems commissioned
Fire safety, emergency procedures, and physical security are tested and documented.
Evidence required
  • Commissioning reports (fire suppression, alarms, egress, power cutover)
  • Emergency response plan + drill record
  • Physical security plan (perimeter, cameras, access control, visitor process)
Environmental controls proven
Monitoring is live, thresholds are enforced, and compliance-first behavior is demonstrated.
Evidence required
  • Monitoring plan (temperatures, discharge limits, flow, alarms)
  • Proof of compliance operating modes (load shedding / mode switching)
  • Incident runbooks and escalation path for environmental events

3) Power & grid readiness

Power handoff commissioned
The site has stable power with metering, protection, and documented start/stop sequencing.
Evidence required
  • Commissioning report (substation / feeder / protection / metering)
  • Power-quality baseline (voltage/frequency tolerance, harmonics where relevant)
  • Pad sequencing procedure (safe ramp-up, safe shutdown)
Fail-safe behavior validated
If constraints are breached (overheat, telemetry loss), the site degrades safely.
Evidence required
  • Test record: sensor failure → conservative mode
  • Test record: heat-demand mismatch → storage/reject compliant mode
  • Test record: utility outage → controlled shutdown / restart procedure

4) Heat-first operations (the central promise)

Heat recovery loop operational
Heat is captured and routed to real endpoints (buildings/storage/greenhouse), not just “planned.”
Evidence required
  • Commissioning report: heat exchangers + district loop
  • Confirmed live endpoints (at least one building loop or equivalent)
  • Thermal storage behavior verified (charge/discharge tests)
Curtailment policy defined
If heat cannot be recovered compliantly, compute load is curtailed or shifted by policy.
Evidence required
  • Heat-first operating policy (reuse → store → reject)
  • Curtailment decision authority (who decides, thresholds, logs)
  • Tenant communication protocol for curtailment events

5) Fiber & network readiness (export compute)

Fiber trunk live + tested
Export capacity is active, performance is measured, and failover is validated where promised.
Evidence required
  • Fiber acceptance test (latency, throughput, packet loss baselines)
  • Failover test record (if dual path is claimed)
  • NOC monitoring live with alerting thresholds
Isolation & tenancy boundaries enforced
Tenant traffic is isolated; operator tooling does not create backdoor visibility.
Evidence required
  • Network segmentation plan + verification
  • Access logs and privileged account controls
  • Policy: what telemetry is collected (infrastructure only) and retention rules

6) Governance is seated (so “benefit” is not optional)

Governance required for Go

Kristal Farms is not only a technical asset. It is a community-coupled infrastructure project. Governance must exist on day one.

Must exist
  • Named decision bodies (project steering + heat/environment review)
  • Published decision boundaries (who controls heat priorities, curtailment, incident response)
  • Dispute/recourse pathway (how the community raises issues, how they’re resolved)
Must be evidenced by
  • A governance charter and meeting cadence
  • Public dashboard plan (what gets published, how often, by whom)
  • Incident review procedure + first drill

Governance & accountability →

“No-Go” triggers (stop conditions)

Automatic No-Go

  • Environmental compliance cannot be proven (monitoring missing, thresholds undefined, or unsafe discharge behavior).
  • Heat-first promise is not operational (no working recovery path; no curtailment policy).
  • Safety systems are uncommissioned (fire, emergency response, access control).
  • Tenancy boundaries are unclear (operator has excessive visibility; privacy claims are not enforceable).
  • Governance does not exist (no decision bodies, no recourse, no accountable owners).

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