Finland’s opposition calls for data centre permitting system after Google’s €13bn deal

The intervention came on Thursday, a day after Google announced it will invest at least €13 billion ($15.1 billion) in Finnish AI infrastructure over 2027-2028, its largest single investment in Europe to date, as Capacity reported on Wednesday.

What the opposition is asking for

Antti Kaikkonen, leader of the Centre Party, Finland’s second-largest opposition group, told Reuters that data centres are welcome, but that “at the moment, no one is really looking after the overall picture,” calling for a national permitting system to manage new investment.

Niina Malm, a Social Democratic Party MP, went further, framing electricity affordability as “a broader internal security issue” rather than a purely economic one. The Social Democrats are currently leading in the polls ahead of Finland’s parliamentary election in April, meaning the permitting question could become a live campaign issue and, if the SDP wins, move quickly.

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo pushed back on the concerns, telling reporters “there is enough electricity” and that Google is committed to keeping supply sufficient and prices under control.

The deal behind the pushback

Google’s investment includes a 22-year purchase agreement for up to 50% of the output of Fortum’s Loviisa nuclear plant, extending the facility’s operation to 2050. Ruth Porat, Google’s President and chief investment officer, described the arrangement as “BYOP bring your own power,” calling it Google’s first nuclear energy deal outside the US.

The scale of the opposition response is notable because Finland has historically had less vocal pushback to data centre development than markets such as the US. Grid data support the underlying concern: state transmission operator Fingrid has restricted new industrial-scale electricity connections in southern Finland since early 2025 due to faster-than-expected demand growth, and data centres now account for roughly half of all new connection enquiries it receives.

Part of a wider pattern

Finland’s opposition intervention adds to a run of data centre pushback stories Capacity has tracked this year, across markets with very different regulatory and political structures: sustained community opposition in the US that has blocked or delayed billions in projects, lenders now treating that opposition as a credit risk factor, a ministerial planning override needed for a small UK data centre, and litigation over a Google site in India.

What to watch

• Whether Finland’s government moves on a national permitting system ahead of April’s election, or whether the issue is left to the next parliament
• Whether Fingrid’s connection restrictions ease as planned in 2027-2028, when new transmission investments complete, or whether data centre demand outpaces that timeline
• Whether other historically welcoming markets, the wider Nordics, for instance, see similar opposition emerge as AI-driven investment scales up

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