Rewiring for growth

The report examines how smarter grid strategies can unlock digital infrastructure investments, particularly for AI and data centres. It highlights that long grid connection queues in Europe are deterring developers, but suggests that phased connections, non-firm (flexible) agreements, and strategic siting in priority zones can significantly reduce wait times and infrastructure costs. The document emphasizes that data centres often underutilize their contracted capacity and can offer flexibility to the grid, which could potentially double available capacity if implemented.

• Grid connection wait times are a critical factor for data centre site selection; in Europe's FLAP-D markets, congestion has led to wait times averaging seven to ten years, and sometimes up to 13 years. Conversely, countries that halve these connection times could attract approximately 20% more data centre growth by 2030.
• Data centres in Europe significantly underutilize their nominal power ratings, with an average usage of 44% in 2024. Specific examples include Ireland, where the average load is approximately 34% of contracted capacity, and Norway, which saw a 30% utilization rate in 2023 (150 MW out of 500 MW connected).
• Implementing a phased connection approach—where developers initially secure 50% of their needs and the rest over time—could purportedly reduce US connection queue times by 80%, dropping from 5–8 years to 12–18 months.
• Adopting flexible or non-firm grid connections, where consumption can be interrupted during extreme weather or grid stress, could dramatically increase capacity. The IEA estimates that if European data centres provided just 30 hours of annual flexibility, available grid capacity for them could more than double.
• Several European countries are using strategic siting to speed up deployment: France's EDF is offering industrial sites with approximately 2 GW of capacity; the UK is identifying 'AI Growth Zones' (AIGZ) for clusters of 500 MW+; and Italy's Terna is clustering requests to avoid oversizing infrastructure, having received 30 GW of project requests by the end of 2024.

APA

Ember (2025). Rewiring for growth. https://ember-energy.org/chapter/rewiring-for-growth/

Chicago

Ember. Rewiring for growth. 2025. https://ember-energy.org/chapter/rewiring-for-growth/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Ember |title=Rewiring for growth |date=19 June 2025 |url=https://ember-energy.org/chapter/rewiring-for-growth/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ember2025rewiring, author = {{Ember}}, title = {{Rewiring for growth}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2025}, month = jun, url = {https://ember-energy.org/chapter/rewiring-for-growth/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }