Could The Data Center Boom Come Back To Haunt Europe?

Europe is racing to power the artificial intelligence boom as an energy crisis exposes the continent’s growing dependence on imported fuels.

The European Union wants to at least triple its data center capacity over the next five to seven years as it attempts to compete in the global AI race, according to the European Commission’s AI Continent plan. Europe’s lack of refining capacity and dependence on foreign imports to meet its energy needs complicates the picture, however, with net imports accounting for roughly 57% of the EU’s energy needs in 2024.

“The EU’s goal for rapid AI expansion is headed on a collision course with its ‘Green Deal’ climate policies, which heavily restrict new baseload power generation – either natural gas, coal or nuclear,” energy analyst David Blackmon told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The data center industry figured out two years ago that unreliable intermittent generation (wind and solar) cannot meet its 99.999% uptime requirements even with battery backup. Natural gas quickly evolved into the generation of choice for a variety of reasons, and that isn’t going to change. “

Brussels plans to build seven multi-billion-dollar “gigafactories” in the coming years, Politico reported. Data centers consumed roughly 68 terawatt-hours of electricity across the EU in 2024, according to the European Commission, which projects demand will climb to 114 TWh by 2030, accounting for roughly 3.2% of the bloc’s total electricity demand.

“[I]ntegrating data centres in the energy system in a sustainable way is key to contribute to security of supply and exploit their benefits for system integration,”Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, the European Commission spokesperson for Climate Action and Energy, told the DCNF. “This is what we put forward in the Strategic Roadmap on digitalisation and AI for the energy system in June.”

“Data centres, especially new generation data centres, are major consumers of energy. This is no secret,” Itkonen said. “The EU is making sure that their growth is well managed – in a way that does not put our energy system at strain.”

“It is worth remembering that data centers can also tailor some resources to improve the stability of grids or tap into their potential as sources of waste heat,” Itkonen continued. “To give you a number, reusing around half of all waste heat from data centres can cover the total heating demand of almost 4 million households in Europe.”

Google’s planned hyperscale data center in Kronstorf, Austria, could eventually draw electricity from the country’s power grid equivalent to roughly 7% of Austria’s current power demand, according to Politico. The facility is expected to rely on the existing power grid rather than an on-site or direct fuel supply, such as the natural gas pipeline arrangements being explored for some data centers in the U.S.

“We are facilitating a collaborative framework of Member State authorities, data centre operators and stakeholders (including grid operators, energy suppliers, clean technology and solutions providers, and waste heat off-takers) in the form of tripartite agreements,” Itkonen told DCNF.