Germany wants to double its data center fleet and quadruple AI computing capacity by 2030, aiming to reduce dependence on the US and revive its economy. But those plans have run into the country's climate commitments. Earlier this year, the government weakened a key rule from its 2023 Energy Efficiency Act that required new data centers to recycle waste heat into municipal heating systems, after developers said the obligation made construction nearly impossible.
The original rule was designed to help meet EU emissions cuts, but data center firms argued it put them in an impossible bind when no local buyer for heat existed. In the last 18 months, several projects collapsed, including a $3 billion facility in Hesse and a state-owned project in Baden-Württemberg. The amended bill, now heading to parliament, only requires developers to assess whether heat recycling is feasible, exempting them if it is not.
Critics, including former German energy official Patrick Graichen, accuse the government of sacrificing climate targets to ride the AI wave. They say waste-heat recycling is technically straightforward when an offtake is available. The article notes that while the change may make Germany more attractive to data center developers, it could also invite climate-focused activism, citing a German town that blocked a $2.5 billion data center in February partly over environmental concerns.