The grid is creaking across Europe, with demand and growth across is outstripping the supply of available capacity. With pressures on ageing infrastructure rising and connection queues lengthening, the data centre industry has perhaps reached a moment of reckoning.
This topic was examined this week at Datacloud Energy Europe, where a panel discussion looked at how the industry can move from being a burden to the grid to collaborating better with grid operators and supporting its development.
Moderated by Dame Dawn Childs, the discussion brought together some of the top voices in the industry – including Pamela MacDougall, head of energy markets and regulation at AWS, Charles Esser, secretary general at E.DSO, David Adkins, head of network architecture and strategy at National Grid Electricity Transmission and Paul Pottuijt, head of system operations – future design at TenneT TSO.
“I wouldn’t say there’s one country that’s solved everything,” MacDougall explained. “Everyone has good intentions, but it’s complex.”
Confronting a system under strain
Something the panellists discussed was the importance of regulation to improve support for the grid. Notably, while data centres can be planned, financed and built within a few years now, grid infrastructure can take the better part of a decade. Combine that with issues of permitting and the industry is faced with significant bottlenecks on both sides.
“Across Europe, the bottleneck is often transmission capacity rather than generation,” Adkins explained. Particularly in the UK, he described how grid connection queues have become heavily oversubscribed due to speculative projects that have little prospect of delivery.
“Connecting large demand is more complex than generation,” he added. “It requires more infrastructure and careful planning.”
The significant scale of modern hyperscale facilities is also beginning to create a new category of risk. Facilities drawing between 1.5 and 2 gigawatts, the panel warned, could cause significant grid disruption if they suddenly disconnected – a challenge that existing grid architecture was not designed to absorb.
Esser added: “Many of these challenges are political and regulatory, not just technical.”
“Looking at the EU’s recent grid package, there isn’t a single optimal solution identified. That’s important.”
A strong case for collaboration across Europe
Despite these complexities, the panel identified several practical levers to facilitate growth. Flexibility and the ability of data centres to modulate their demand in response to grid conditions emerged as a recurring theme. Pottuijt made the case plainly:
“Demand should grow in step with real energy availability,” Pottuijt said. “From a transmission perspective, we’d like to see data centres participate more in grid services – frequency response, reactive power, congestion management.”
MacDougall acknowledged that, while this flexibility is important, clear definitions and mechanisms are needed to secure it.
“There are also operational limits, like not controlling customer workloads. We’re investing in storage and other technologies to support reliability,” she added. “We also need regulatory frameworks that incentivise grid investment – like performance-based mechanisms and cost recovery models.”
The importance of where data centres are located also came into focus during the discussion. Adkins called for better coordination between transmission and distribution networks to identify where demand can most efficiently be absorbed.
“In the UK, we’ve tried reforms on the generation side, but demand planning is still catching up,” he added. “We can explore interim solutions—like working with distribution networks for earlier connections or enabling co-location with generation where possible – but ultimately, permitting delays are a major barrier.
“Europe needs to accelerate this process if we want to scale infrastructure.”
Esser added that overcoming these challenges is all about collaboration to understand the constraints and potential opportunities.
“Data centres should be part of integrated system planning, including permitting, timelines and investment decisions,” he said. “Flexibility, location choices and even heat reuse can all play a role.”
The other panellists pointed to the challenges policymakers face, including a need for more streamlined permitting and greater competition across the European market.
“We can’t wait years to build the infrastructure we need,” MacDougall said.
Appetites for change
When Childs asked each panellist what single change would make the greatest difference, the answers converged on a familiar set of themes. Pottuijt called for better shared understanding between stakeholders, whereas Esser pointed to the need for faster implementation of existing policies and greater alignment between regulation and investment.
The other panellists pointed to the challenges policymakers face, including a need for more streamlined permitting and greater competition across the European market.
“We can’t wait years to build the infrastructure we need,” MacDougall said.
The message from the grid side of the table was clear: data centres are no longer a niche concern for network planners. They are becoming load events significant enough to reshape transmission architecture. The message from the demand side was equally clear: certainty, speed and genuine partnership are what the industry needs to invest responsibly.
As Childs effectively summarised at the end of the keynote panel: “The key themes are clear – collaboration, coordination and acceleration.
“If we can work together effectively, we can make real progress.”
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