Europe · grid connections
Data-centre grid queues in Europe: requests far outrun what will be built
Italy (100 GW of data-centre requests, August 2026), Great Britain (73 GW) and Spain (6.3 GW granted) hold 179 GW between them; their operators and industry expect about 10 GW built by 2030, roughly one in 18. Ireland has 2 GW contracted and 6 GW more interest. Sources: Terna, Ofgem, NESO, Red Eléctrica, EirGrid; checked 2026-10-11.
Updated 11 October 2026 · data build 2026-10-10 · how we know · corrections
179 GW in the queue, about 10 GW expected: one in 18
Italy, Great Britain and Spain are the three countries where both the queue and an expectation of what gets built by 2030 are public. Each bar uses the operator's own stage of the queue. Estimate
Dark bars: the queue (Italy requests, Britain contracted offers, Spain granted access, Ireland further interest). Light bars: what the operator or industry expects by 2030 (Italy upper end of Terna's 1.5–2 GW; Britain NESO's central 5.2 GW; Spain SpainDC's upper 2.9 GW). Ireland's light bar is EirGrid's near-term room outside Dublin, not a forecast, so Ireland is left out of the one-in-18 sum.
Source: MF Milano Finanza, citing Terna data at 31 Aug 2026 (2026-09-23) · QualEnergia, 'Data center. Terna: 82 GW di richieste ma con tanta speculazione' (2026-03-17) · Ofgem, Consultation 'Curate – Demand Connections Reform' (PDF) (2026-07-29) · NESO written evidence DCU0081 to the Environmental Audit Committee (2026) · Red Eléctrica press release, demand capacity map by type of consumer (2026-10-01) · Fundación Renovables, submission on the draft data-centre decree (2026-09) · EirGrid, Data Centre Constrained Area Overview (R1) (2026-05-20) · as of 2026-10-11 · pairing and ratio: our arithmetic · Compiled by StackPath
About 255 GW of data-centre demand is queued, reserved or granted in 9 countries
That is about 23 times Europe's entire average data-centre load today (~11 GW, from Ember's 96 TWh for 2024). Stages differ by country, so read it as an order of magnitude. Estimate
Light bars are whole-queue figures for all large consumers (Netherlands, Sweden) and are not in the total. Germany is Brandenburg's 22 GW of data-centre enquiries only; Germany's four TSOs hold 220 GW of applications from all large consumers and storage. Belgium's operator Elia reports a ninefold rise in data-centre requests since 2022 but no MW figure. Countries without a published expectation of what gets built: Germany, France, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland.
Source: Per-country sources in the table below · Ember, Grids for data centres in Europe (Jun 2025) · as of 2026-10-11 · total and multiple: our arithmetic · Compiled by StackPath
Italy's queue more than tripled in 20 months, to 100 GW
Data-centre connection requests counted by Terna, the Italian transmission operator, as reported at each date. Italy offers some of Europe's shortest connection times, which Ember links to the surge. Reported
Reported values only: end-2024 (Ember), Aug 2025, Nov 2025, Mar 2026, Jul 2026 and Aug 2026; the line joins them.
| Region (31 Aug 2026) | Requests | GW |
|---|---|---|
| Lombardy (Milan area) | 296 | 47.3 |
| Piedmont | 71 | 14.5 |
| Lazio | 45 | 12.45 |
| Puglia | 30 | 8.28 |
| Emilia-Romagna | 41 | 6.14 |
| Veneto | 24 | 5.54 |
MF labels the 47.3 GW 'Milan and its hinterland'; it matches Lombardy's 44.96 GW at 31 Jul 2026 plus August's growth, so it is probably all of Lombardy.
Terna's planning head, Mauro Caprabianca, said in March 2026 that he expects 1.5–2 GW to be built by about 2030 and called the 82 GW then queued "irrealistico". In November 2025 only 14 projects (1.53 GW, all in Lombardy) held a signed connection contract.
Download CSV ↓Source: Ember, Grids for data centres in Europe (Jun 2025) · Il Sole 24 Ore, 26 Aug 2025 · Staffetta Quotidiana, 13 Nov 2025 (I-Com reprint) · QualEnergia, 17 Mar 2026 · MF Milano Finanza, 19 Aug 2026 · MF Milano Finanza, 23 Sep 2026 · as of 2026-10-11 · Terna figures as reported by each outlet · Compiled by StackPath
Against the size of each grid, the queues are larger still
Where the same source gives the national peak, the data-centre queue as a multiple of it. Reported
| Country | Queue | Loads | National peak | Queue ÷ peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Britain | 73 GW | data centres | 45 GW | 1.6× |
| Denmark | 17 GW | data centres | 7 GW | 2.4× |
| Denmark | 60 GW | all large loads | 7 GW | 8.6× |
| Sweden | 7.5 GW | all large loads (said in a data-centre context) | 25.5 GW | 0.3× |
| Ireland | 6 GW | data centres (further interest) | – | would double the peak (EirGrid) |
Denmark's peak is Energinet's 'maximum electricity consumption' of about 7 GW; Sweden's is a January winter peak of 25–26 GW (midpoint shown). Ratios: our arithmetic.
Source: Ofgem, Consultation 'Curate – Demand Connections Reform' (PDF) (2026-07-29) · Ingeniøren, citing Energinet (2026-04-16) · Ingeniøren (2026-03-05) · WSP, Almedalen panel report (2026-06-24) · EirGrid, Data Centre Constrained Area Overview (R1) (2026-05-20) · as of 2026-10-11 · Compiled by StackPath
Every figure, with the operator's own definition
One row per published figure; the operator name links to the source. MW as published (GW × 1,000; MVA treated as MW). Definitions below the table. Reported
| Country | Operator | Stage | Figure | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Italy | Terna (TSO) | requested | 100 GW requested | Sep 2026 |
| Italy | Terna (TSO) | expected | 82 GW requested; 1.5–2 GW expected (2030) | Mar 2026 |
| Italy | Terna (TSO) | contracted | 66 GW requested; 1.5 GW contracted; 2–3 GW expected (2028-2030) | Nov 2025 |
| Great Britain | Ofgem / NESO | contracted | 73 GW contracted | Jul 2026 |
| Great Britain | NESO (system operator) | expected | 72.8 GW requested; 3.7–6.3 GW expected (2030) | 2026 |
| Spain | Red Eléctrica (TSO) | granted | 6.3 GW granted; 0 GW connected | Oct 2026 |
| Spain | MITECO draft decree / SpainDC | expected | 12 GW granted; 2.6–2.9 GW expected (2030) | Sep 2026 |
| France | RTE (TSO) | reserved | 18 GW reserved | Jun 2026 |
| France | RTE (via trade press) | requested | 28.6 GW requested; 5.8 GW contracted | Jul 2026 |
| Germany | Four TSOs (50Hertz, Amprion, TenneT, TransnetBW) | requested | 220 GW requested | May 2026 |
| Germany | Brandenburg grid operator (unnamed) | requested | 22 GW requested; 0.1 GW connected | Jul 2025 |
| Germany | Mitnetz Strom (DSO, eastern Germany) | reserved | 16.8 GW requested; 1.4 GW reserved | Oct 2026 |
| Germany | Stromnetz Berlin (DSO) | requested | 2.3 GW requested; 0.37 GW available | Oct 2026 |
| Netherlands | Regional DSOs (Netbeheer Nederland, LAN progress report) | requested | 10 GW requested | Oct 2026 |
| Belgium | Elia (TSO) | requested | no MW figure | Oct 2025 |
| Norway | Statnett (TSO) | reserved | 9.8 GW requested; 2.4 GW reserved | May 2025 |
| Norway | Statnett (via Argus) | reserved | 3.5 GW reserved | Mar 2026 |
| Finland | Fingrid (TSO) | contracted | 3 GW contracted | Jul 2026 |
| Denmark | Energinet (TSO) | requested | 17 GW requested | Apr 2026 |
| Denmark | Energinet (TSO) | requested | 60 GW requested | Mar 2026 |
| Sweden | Svenska kraftnät (TSO) | requested | 7.5 GW requested | Jun 2026 |
| Ireland | EirGrid (TSO) | contracted | 6 GW requested; 2 GW contracted; 0.2–0.3 GW expected (undefined) | May 2026 |
What each figure means (definitions)
- Italy, Terna (TSO): Connection requests to the national grid from data-centre projects, cumulative, as counted by Terna (Econnextion). Distribution-level requests come on top. MF Milano Finanza, citing Terna data at 31 Aug 2026, 2026-09-23.
- Italy, Terna (TSO): Terna's head of territorial planning (Mauro Caprabianca), speaking on 11 Mar 2026: 1.5-2 GW realistically built by about 2030; he called 82 GW 'unrealistic'. QualEnergia, 'Data center. Terna: 82 GW di richieste ma con tanta speculazione', 2026-03-17.
- Italy, Terna (TSO): 14 authorised projects with signed connection contracts (all in Lombardy), 1.53 GW, from Terna's Econnextion data at 31 Oct 2025; Terna then expected 2-3 GW to be built in 2028-2030. I-Com press review, reprinting Staffetta Quotidiana (13 Nov 2025) and QualEnergia (18 Nov 2025), 2025-11-18.
- Great Britain, Ofgem / NESO: Data centres' share of contracted demand in GB's connection queue (125 GW in total, up from 41 GW in Nov 2024). Peak GB demand in 2025 was 45 GW. Ofgem, Consultation 'Curate – Demand Connections Reform' (PDF), 2026-07-29.
- Great Britain, NESO (system operator): NESO's FES 2025 ten-year forecast: about 5.2 GW of data centres connected by 2030 (range 3.7-6.3 GW), just over 20 TWh a year. NESO written evidence DCU0081 to the Environmental Audit Committee, 2026.
- Spain, Red Eléctrica (TSO): Demand access capacity granted to data centres on the transmission grid: 6,329 MW, 34.2% of all granted demand access; none in service yet. Red Eléctrica press release, demand capacity map by type of consumer, 2026-10-01.
- Spain, MITECO draft decree / SpainDC: The draft royal decree's preamble counts about 12 GW of access granted; the industry association SpainDC expects 2.6-2.9 GW operating by 2030 (both as quoted by Fundación Renovables). Fundación Renovables, submission on the draft data-centre decree, 2026-09.
- France, RTE (TSO): RTE had reserved nearly 18 GW for about 80 data-centre projects by May 2026 (about 5 GW, some 40 projects, at end-2024). Data centres use about 10 TWh today; RTE expects 15-20 TWh in 2030. Connected sites use on average 20% of the power they requested. RTE, 'L'essor des data centers en France', 2026-06-01.
- France, RTE (via trade press): Trade press: 28.6 GW of cumulative requests, 5.8 GW with firm connection commitments. Not stated on RTE's own page. Les Énergies Renouvelables, 2026-07-28.
- Germany, Four TSOs (50Hertz, Amprion, TenneT, TransnetBW): Applications to connect consumers and battery storage to the transmission grid, all four TSOs: 220 GW at end-2025, up from 15 GW at end-2022. Not data centres alone. 50Hertz presentation, Brandenburger Energietag, 2026-05-29.
- Germany, Brandenburg grid operator (unnamed): 170 data-centre enquiries totalling 22 GW since 2022; two data centres (100 MW) connected. Clean Energy Wire, citing Tagesspiegel Background, 2025-07-25.
- Germany, Mitnetz Strom (DSO, eastern Germany): 90 data-centre requests totalling 16.8 GW; nine projects (about 1.4 GW) firmly reserved. The network spans parts of Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, so it may overlap the Brandenburg figure. ingenieur.de, citing Mitnetz Strom, 2026-10-08.
- Germany, Stromnetz Berlin (DSO): 70 connection requests totalling about 2,300 MVA against 365 MVA of available capacity in Stromnetz Berlin's 2025 allocation round (MVA, roughly MW). ingenieur.de, citing Stromnetz Berlin, 2026-10-08.
- Netherlands, Regional DSOs (Netbeheer Nederland, LAN progress report): Waiting list for offtake capacity at the regional grid operators: 15,498 requests for 9,986 MW at end-June 2026 (9,305 MW at end-2025). All large consumers, not data centres alone. Solar Magazine, citing the national grid-congestion programme's progress report, 2026-10-06.
- Belgium, Elia (TSO): Data-centre requests up ninefold since 2022; capacity reserved for 2034 is more than double the 8 TWh in grid development plans. Elia proposed a separate, capped data-centre category. No MW figure published in the source. Silicon UK, reporting Reuters, 2025-10-23.
- Norway, Statnett (TSO): Data-centre cases: 9,829 MW of 28,188 MW of all active offtake cases; 2,362 MW reserved, 4,210 MW in the capacity queue, 3,257 MW not yet assessed. Minister's answer to Storting question 2086, 2025-05-08.
- Norway, Statnett (via Argus): Argus: reserved data-centre capacity has grown to 3.5 GW and the capacity queue to 5.4 GW (not directly attributed to a Statnett publication). Argus Media, 2026-03-26.
- Finland, Fingrid (TSO): Planned capacity of data-centre projects with signed connection agreements by end-June 2026: over 3 GW (per project developers). Fingrid half-year report 1.1.-30.6.2026, 2026-07-23.
- Denmark, Energinet (TSO): Data centres accounted for 14 GW of requested transmission capacity (about 40% of the queue) and 3 GW of distribution capacity at end-January 2026. Energinet paused new connection agreements in March 2026, with about 60 GW queued against a maximum consumption of about 7 GW. Ingeniøren, citing Energinet, 2026-04-16.
- Denmark, Energinet (TSO): Projects in the queue would together consume about 60 GW; Denmark's maximum consumption is about 7 GW. No new connection agreements signed during the pause. Ingeniøren, 2026-03-05.
- Sweden, Svenska kraftnät (TSO): Svenska kraftnät's chief strategist: about 7,500 MW wants to connect to the transmission grid, against a winter peak of 25-26 GW. Not stated to be data centres only. WSP, Almedalen panel report, 2026-06-24.
- Ireland, EirGrid (TSO): 2 GW of data centres contracted, mostly around Dublin; a market-intelligence exercise found interest in a further 6 GW, which would double the system peak; a desktop study found room for 150-300 MW of new data centres in the west. Dublin is constrained. EirGrid, Data Centre Constrained Area Overview (R1), 2026-05-20.
- Europe (FLAP-D hubs), Ember (think tank): Average time to connect a data centre in established hubs (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Dublin): 7-10 years, up to 13; about three years in Italy. Ember press release, 'Grids for data centres', 2025-06-19.
Source: Compiled from the sources linked in each row · as of 2026-10-11 · 32 of 32 source quotes re-checked against cached copies · Compiled by StackPath
Ireland: 2 GW contracted, 6 GW more interest, 150–300 MW of room in the west
Ireland's queue is small next to Italy's or Britain's, but large next to its grid. Reported
EirGrid's May 2026 overview says Ireland has 2 GW of contracted data centres, mostly around Dublin, which will be nearly a third of national demand once fully used. A market-intelligence exercise found interest in a further 6 GW, which would double the system peak. Dublin is constrained for large new data centres; a desktop study found room for 50–100 MW each around Galway, Limerick and Cork. Since December 2025 new data centres must also bring their own dispatchable generation (CRU/2025/236). See Ireland's de facto moratorium and how much contracted capacity sits unused.
Source: EirGrid, Data Centre Constrained Area Overview (R1) (2026-05-20) · as of 2026-10-11 · Compiled by StackPath
Our reading. Across Europe, published data-centre queues are many times larger than anything operators expect to connect this decade: roughly one gigawatt in eighteen in the three countries that publish both sides. The constraint on Europe's data-centre build-out is not demand for connections; it is which projects are real, and how fast grids can serve them. Ireland's queue looks modest in gigawatts but, relative to its system, is among the largest in Europe.
Stages differ by country: requests (Italy, Denmark, Brandenburg), contracted offers (Great Britain, Finland, Ireland), reserved or granted capacity (France, Norway, Spain). A sum across countries is an order of magnitude, not a like-for-like total. Italy's national figures are Terna's transmission requests; distribution-level projects come on top. Earlier lower counts for the same period (e.g. 46 GW) reflect narrower scopes; we found no primary source for 46 GW. Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden publish whole-queue figures (all large consumers and storage), not data centres alone; they are shown but left out of the data-centre totals. Mitnetz's 16.8 GW may overlap Brandenburg's 22 GW (Mitnetz serves part of Brandenburg), so only Brandenburg is counted in the total. Ireland's 150-300 MW is EirGrid's estimate of room for new data centres in the west, not a forecast of what will connect; Ireland is therefore not in the requested-vs-expected comparison. Expected-build figures are forecasts: a Terna planning head's estimate (Italy), NESO's ten-year forecast (GB) and the industry association SpainDC's estimate quoted in a submission (Spain). Europe's average data-centre load (~11.0 GW) is our arithmetic from Ember/ICIS's 96 TWh for 2024 divided by 8,760 hours.
Questions people ask
- How long does a data centre wait for a grid connection in Europe?
- Ember (June 2025) puts the average wait in the established hubs, Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin, at 7–10 years, with some sites waiting up to 13, against about three years in Italy. Italy's short wait is one reason its queue has grown from 30 GW (end-2024) to 100 GW (August 2026).
- How much data-centre capacity is waiting for a grid connection in Italy?
- Terna counted more than 100 GW of data-centre connection requests at 31 August 2026, nearly half of it in Lombardy. Terna's head of territorial planning said in March 2026 he expects 1.5–2 GW to be built by about 2030 and called the queue unrealistic.
- How big is the UK data-centre grid queue?
- Ofgem counts about 73 GW of data centres (about 315 projects) among contracted offers in Great Britain's demand queue, against a 2025 peak demand of 45 GW. NESO's forecast is about 5.2 GW of data centres connected by 2030.
- Why are data-centre grid queues so much bigger than what gets built?
- Applying is cheap, and a queue position has value of its own: developers file for several sites, file before they have a customer, and sell sites on once a connection offer exists. Regulators in Great Britain (Ofgem), Italy (Terna) and Spain are all proposing fees, milestones or tenders to clear speculative requests.
- How does Ireland's data-centre grid queue compare with the rest of Europe?
- It is small in gigawatts but large for its grid. EirGrid has 2 GW of data centres contracted and found interest in 6 GW more, which it says would double the system peak; it sees room for 150–300 MW of new data centres in the west in the near term, with Dublin constrained (EirGrid, May 2026).