Grids for data centres

The report argues that while the EU aims to triple data centre capacity within five to seven years, grid congestion in traditional hubs like Dublin, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam is creating a primary barrier to growth. This is shifting investment toward markets with better grid preparedness, such as the Nordics and Belgium. Data centres are identified as unique grid challenges due to their large, localised, and continuous loads. Despite their economic benefits—including GDP growth and job creation—forecasts suggest the EU will likely only double its capacity by 2030, falling short of its target.

• Grid congestion is the primary obstacle to data centre deployment in traditional European hubs, leading to restrictive measures. Ireland imposed a de facto moratorium on new data centres in Dublin until 2028, and similar challenges exist in Frankfurt and Amsterdam.
• Data centres present specific technical challenges to electricity grids because they are large, localised loads that operate continuously and can ramp up operations faster than most other large energy users. In Italy, Terna reports that capacity applications for data centres average over 140 MW.
• Electricity demand from European data centres is projected to grow from 96 TWh in 2024 to 168 TWh in 2030 and 236 TWh by 2035, an increase of nearly 150% over ten years. This growth is expected to be larger than that of electric vehicles by 2030.
• The EU is likely to miss its goal of tripling data centre capacity within five to seven years, as forecasts from the IEA, IMF, McKinsey, and ICIS suggest a doubling of capacity by 2030 is more probable.
• Investment is shifting away from the 'FLAP-D' markets (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin), which currently hold 62% of Europe's capacity but are expected to drop to 51% by 2035. Growth is accelerating in the Nordics and Belgium due to better grid planning and availability.

APA

Ember (2025). Grids for data centres. https://ember-energy.org/chapter/chapter-1-grids-for-data-centres/

Chicago

Ember. Grids for data centres. 2025. https://ember-energy.org/chapter/chapter-1-grids-for-data-centres/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Ember |title=Grids for data centres |date=19 June 2025 |url=https://ember-energy.org/chapter/chapter-1-grids-for-data-centres/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ember2025grids, author = {{Ember}}, title = {{Grids for data centres}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2025}, month = jun, url = {https://ember-energy.org/chapter/chapter-1-grids-for-data-centres/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }