Support EU data centres or ‘turn off the digital lights’, says industry – Euractiv
Demystifying how data centres work, how much energy and water they consume, and how vital they are for the EU’s green and digital transitions will be the priority for the industry and policymakers in the coming years.
That was the message from industry representatives during a Euractiv event in Brussels in early December.
Michael Winterson, Managing Director at the European Data Centre Association (EUDCA) at the event held at the Residence Palace, said :
We had been under the radar for so many years, and we popped up, and we didn’t know what to do, and so we’ve spent the past five years going through a maturation process,
“Many of us now actually have policy people in our companies – this job never existed five years ago.”
While the narrative around data centres mainly focuses on their intensive use of energy and water, the industry is keen to impress how vital it is for the EU to have control of its own resources in this sector.
Alban Schmutz, chairman of the trade association Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE), said :
There will need to be more data centres,
He said,
You might not like this fact, but we have to cater to it, or we literally need to turn off the digital lights,
No data centres, no internet
Schmutz added:
Without a data centre, you have no internet, you have no mobile phone, no 5G or 6G.
In March, the EU Commission adopted an EU-wide scheme for rating the sustainability of data centres, which sets out requirements on them to annually report their energy and water consumption and efficiency along several Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
On releasing the scheme, the EU Commission said data centres account for close to 3% of EU electricity demand and that that is likely to significantly increase potentially two or 3-fold by 2030 in some EU member states.
Robert Muij, Deputy Head of Unit, Energy Efficiency Policy and Financing in DG ENER of the European Commission, said :
We will focus on implementation and enforcement of the existing legislation, and that’s where the rules that are currently in the Energy Efficiency Directive for data centres are important,
Supporting dialogue
Defending the plan, Mr Muij said:
We’ve made good steps, and we are seeing reporting happening now. We are very keen to continue the dialogue that we have with the industry.
That dialogue will be key because many in the industry are already voicing concerns about the burden of the reporting requirements.
Schmutz adding,
If you micromanage every single line of reporting, when most of them are unnecessary to meet the goal, then you are creating issues for the industry which are unnecessary,
“One of our challenges regarding policymakers is to explain what is efficient and what is not efficient.”
The pressure for decarbonisation often falls on the biggest players in the industry, like Amazon World Services (AWS).
Niamh Gallagher, Director for Infrastructure Public Policy at AWS, believes they’ve made massive steps forward.
Gallagher, said :
We’re always guided by our North Star – the climate pledge – which we co-founded in 2019, and we committed to be net zero across all of our operations by 2040, which is 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement,
“At the same time, in 2019, we committed to match the electricity used across our data centre operations with renewable energy, and I’m proud to say that we achieved that goal in 2023, seven years ahead of target.”
Capacity problems
According to Statistica, Germany, the EU’s biggest member state, has the most data centres with 522.
Ireland, which has a population around 16 times smaller than Germany, has a higher data centre density per capita, with 57.
Where the data centres are and how much capacity countries have to host them is one of the major conundrums.
Robert Muij from DG ENER of the European Commission, said :
The grid is under pressure, even in member states that don’t yet have lots of data centres,
“If you look at Ireland, around 20% of energy consumption goes to data centres, so that’s a huge issue.”
Irish MEP Barry Cowen, from the Renew Europe group, was also at the event and highlighted the pressure that soaring energy prices have put on his country.
Barry Cowen, said :
We were caught napping by virtue of the cruel exposure to, and the dependency we had on, Russian gas,
“The bottom line is energy security; we need huge investment in our ports, we need huge investment in our grid.”
Barry Cowen, continued :
It’s a failing on the part of society not to have been in a position to supply enough energy in the first place because, without data centres, there’s no online banking, with no e-commerce, there’s no progress,
Price comparisons
Spain is also keen to build up its data centre industry, and Spanish MEP Nicolás González Casares promoted his country’s prowess to host them during the event.
The Socialist MEP told the audience,
We need more data centres, and we are attractive because we have renewable electricity, which will reduce the prices in comparison with other countries in Europe,
He explained,
We need to decarbonise a heavy industry. We need to give people affordable electricity for their homes,
“Clean and green electricity cannot compete with data centres nowadays. So, what we need with data centres is additional electricity, not the existing one.”
A clearer picture of the impact data centres have on the environment and how important they are for the EU’s goals will emerge as the reporting under the Energy Efficiency Directive progresses.
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Support EU data centres or ‘turn off the digital lights’, says industry – Euractiv, source
