A new report from the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity explores the potential for data centers to become flexible assets in Europe’s electricity system, as well as how to manage grid planning and grid security.
T he European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) has warned that Europe’s transmission system operators may be forced to reduce renewable energy penetration if growing data centre demand is not properly managed.
The organization representing grid operators across Europe published a report on 8 May outlining the system flexibility benefits that data centres can provide. However, it added that European policymakers must ensure these benefits are appropriately legislated for, otherwise data centre growth could overwhelm Europe’s grids and threaten renewable energy progress.
ENTSO-E called for updated connection codes to ensure data centres support grid safety and reliability. Ramp-rate limits, oscillation damping, voltage control and reactive power requirements should all be considered, the organization said.
It also recommends avoiding restrictions on renewable integration and directing data centre developers to regions where grid demand is less constrained.
“Once the control architecture for grid-safe operation is in place, data centres can progress to providing flexibility services and participating in electricity markets as demand resources, or in some cases as virtual power plants,” ENTSO-E said.
The report’s authors note that flexibility market participation would depend on specific electricity market designs. Data centres can provide fast frequency response, as well as primary, secondary and tertiary reserves, congestion management, and some energy market participation, both day-ahead and intraday.
Hyperscale data centres are best placed to provide flexibility services, whereas colocation facilities face limitations due to tenant control. The majority of Europe’s data centre fleet is colocation-based. Europe currently has more than 10,500 data centres with at least 50 kW of IT load, representing around 12.7 GW of installed IT capacity.
“While data centres inherently possess significant potential to act as flexible grid resources, this theoretical capacity is heavily filtered in practice,” the report states, adding that a “cascading series of technical limitations, business model realities, and market participation barriers progressively narrows the actual flexibility these facilities can offer to the system.”
It also highlights data centres’ impact on grid stability, noting that their requirements are more complex than those of large, conventional loads. Their uninterruptible power supply-based architectures can “instantaneously disconnect hundreds of megawatts during minor grid disturbances,” posing risks to safe grid operation and power quality.
IT equipment and cooling systems account for most data centre electricity demand, and workload types influence how facilities interact with the grid. Cooling loads have thermal inertia, representing a potential source of flexibility, while thermal storage could further reduce constraints, the report adds.
ENTSO-E calls on policymakers to address these challenges ahead of the forthcoming EU Cloud and AI Development Act, which aims to potentially triple Europe’s data centre market size over the next five to seven years.
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