As AI and the cloud explode, Europe’s new digital momentum depends on its ability to provide stable, carbon-free energy to its data centers.
Faced with soaring energy costs and critical connection times, the continent must innovate radically to avoid losing its technological sovereignty.
Energy, the foundation of the digital economy
Data centers house the servers that run digital services, from cloud platforms to artificial intelligence models. Without electricity, these infrastructures simply cannot function.
For data center operators, electricity constitutes the majority of operating costs. This is by far their biggest expense. This reality is fundamentally redefining the sector’s approach to energy. If price remains an important factor, other dimensions have become just as decisive, such as durability.
The first relates to the quality of electricity, and more specifically to its carbon intensity. Companies developing digital services have committed to carbon neutrality objectives and increasingly expect the infrastructures that support their activities to meet these ambitions.
The second concerns cost predictability. In a sector where energy represents such a large share of expenses, stable electricity prices are essential for planning and securing activity, especially in a context marked by geopolitical and climatic uncertainty. Ultimately, the long-term viability of the sector and the technological sovereignty of Europe are at stake.
Securing carbon-free and stable energy
Direct purchase contracts for renewable electricity between producers and consumers, or Power Purchase Agreements (PPA), play a major role in this context. They allow companies to secure the price of electricity over several years and provide essential visibility to industrial players, while supporting the development of new renewable capacities.
But securing low-carbon electricity is not just about producing more renewable energy. This is to ensure that supply corresponds to actual consumption. Data centers operate 24/7, with constant demand, while renewable sources, such as solar or wind, remain intermittent and, in the case of solar, do not produce at night.
This creates a structural gap between when energy is produced and when it is consumed. Consequently, the objective is no longer to simply aim for a “100% renewable” supply, but to build a resilient and decarbonized energy mix. In practice, this means combining renewable energies with stable low-carbon sources such as nuclear power, capable of providing baseload electricity on a continuous basis. This balanced energy mix is essential to ensure both the reliability and sustainability of European digital infrastructures.
Aligning energy transition and digital sovereignty
The expansion of data centers, driven by the rapid growth of digital services, increasingly comes up against electricity connection delays, which constitute a major competitiveness issue. Without timely access to electricity, it becomes difficult to deploy the infrastructure needed to support Europe’s digital sovereignty. In some regions of the world, new data centers can be built and connected to the network in less than a year, while in Europe these processes often take significantly longer. The challenge for Europe therefore consists of investing in the production of low-carbon energy, in the strengthening of electricity networks and in digital infrastructures capable of supporting continuous and sustainable growth.
Data centers, drivers of new energy sectors
Data centers are not only large consumers of electricity. They can also become drivers of innovation in this area. All electricity used by servers is converted into heat. The question is therefore how to recover and valorize this energy rather than letting it go to waste. Many initiatives are studying ways to recover and use this heat. It is, for example, possible to use the heat from servers to cultivate algae by photosynthesis in modules installed on the roof or facade of buildings. The harvested algae then generate a true virtuous circle with applications in various sectors, from the food industry to cosmetics, including pharmacy and the production of biomass that can be used to resupply data centers with energy. Initiatives of this type demonstrate the capacity of digital infrastructures to support new circular economy models.
