Despite regulations that require a share of renewable electricity, operators of data centers are planning their own gas‑led power plants. According to “Handelsblatt”, a lack of grid capacity makes local power supply through fossil fuels attractive. “The grid does not provide enough connection capacity at the sites where data centers are to be built” said Ralph Hintemann, who analyzes the supply of data centers at the Borderstep Institute.
Several examples illustrate this trend. Edgeconnex is planning a 170 MW data center in Maintal, just outside Frankfurt. Until the site can be connected to the grid in 2037, an on‑site gas turbine will provide the electricity. EON and CyrusOne are jointly constructing a 61 MW gas power plant. In Mainz a 54 MW facility is being built to supply the backup power for Green Mountain’s data center. In Birstein, Hesse, the Argaman Group’s “Frank Cube” power station is slated to secure the 200 MW supply for a data center.
The federal government aims to double capacity to six gigawatts by 2030. Nevertheless, from 2027 data centers must procure 100 % of their electricity from renewables. Operators can nevertheless offset their consumption through renewable certificates.
