Energy requirements are holding Europe back from realising its data centre goals, as AI energy consumption continues to grow and calls for data sovereignty mount.

This is according to research from Savills, which found that energy consumption from data centres in Europe accounts for 1% to 18% of national electricity consumption.

In large urban areas, it can make up to between 33% and 42% of electricity in London, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt, and even 80% in Dublin.

Energy demand is only projected to increase, as the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that data centre energy demand will more than double by 2030, with AI largely driving this increase.

Energy grids will have to meet this demand, but about 30% of Europe’s current energy grid is over 40 years old, with some parts even older. Estimates from EY show that necessary upgrades will take a yearly investment of €67 billion.

Despite these requirements, Savills found that Europe saw 850MW of power capacity delivered since the beginning of the year, an 11% decrease from last year.

New uptake reached 845MW this year, which represents only half of the power leased last year.

Demand is strong, however, with about a quarter of take up now pre-let compared with a fifth three years ago.

“The persistent imbalance between surging demand and restricted supply continues to underpin rental values”, Cameron Bell, director, EMEA data centre advisory at Savills said.

“Following three years of sharp increases, average rents have stabilised across the region. Nonetheless, with accelerating AI related requirements, rising energy costs and sustained construction inflation, further upward pressure on pricing is widely anticipated for the rest of 2025 and beyond.”

European Data Centre Association research fond that the greatest data centre challenges of the next three years will be access to power, followed by regulatory compliance and permitting.

Besides the necessary upgrades and investment needed in energy grid, energy is also constrained by campaigns to ensure renewable energy is used to power data centres in an effort to decrease their carbon emissions.

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In EMEA, the amount of renewables in total electricity generation is 33% in 2024, an increase from 26% five years ago. In Europe, greener energy accounts for 42%  of its total electricity generation.

Data centre capacity in Europe is growing, with established hubs growing: 9% in UK and Ireland, 10% in Germany, and 15% in France.

“Geographically, we have seen demand remain highly concentrated. Despite discussion around location agnostic strategies when it comes to AI, very few such projects have translated into transactions,” Bell said.

“Instead, operators are doubling down on existing availability zones, reinforcing consolidation in areas with established hyperscaler footprints, reliable energy supply and space for scalable growth.

“While demand is gradually expanding beyond the traditional European hubs, the bulk of the requirements continue to cluster in the FLAP-D (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin) markets, supported by dense populations and the presence of large corporate occupiers.”