Europe told to cool its datacenter boom before water and power run short

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Get the balance right, Grundfos says, and the region will be a shining example of how to do it without sacrificing the environment

Europe needs a policy framework that integrates water and
energy efficiency if it wants to keep growing datacenter capacity to support
its AI and cloud computing ambitions.

This is the argument in a report, ”Scale and Secure: Powering
Europe’s Digital Sovereignty,” which asserts that progress will depend not so much on access to the right silicon as on water and energy constraints.

Grundfos, the Danish firm behind the report, describes itself as a provider of energy-efficient water solutions so has some skin in this game.

Datacenters are becoming strategic infrastructure, it says, but their development intersects with energy security, water
resilience, industrial policy, urban planning, and technological sovereignty concerns.

According to the report, the EU-wide server farm IT load is
about 10 GW today, and is expected to rise to 35 GW by 2030 – just four years
away. These facilities account for about 3 percent of all electricity consumption
now, but this is projected to hit 7-9 percent by the end of the decade.

Water and energy are intertwined
in cooling systems. Grundfos claims that cooling infrastructure accounts
for a substantial share of a datacenter’s resource use, representing about 38
percent of total electricity consumption in an average facility, while water
demand in large hyperscale facilities can reach 11,356 to 18,927 cubic meters per day – enough for up to 155,000 EU households.

Rapid growth in bit barns is placing increased pressure on energy
systems, water resources and local infrastructure, the report notes. Without
careful coordination, inefficient or poorly sited facilities risk exacerbating these
problems and triggering public opposition.

On the brighter side, the report posits that if Europe
can get the balance right, it will not only be able to support the advances
needed to drive competitiveness, but also position the EU as a global benchmark
for how digital infrastructure can coexist with the natural environment.

To achieve this, recommendations include integrating water and energy efficiency into datacenter
governance frameworks, and standardized reporting of environmental performance to
inform policy oversight and market accountability.

The EU may have a fight on its hands here, of course. Lobbying
groups such as the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact (CNDCP or the Pact) have
already expressed displeasure at proposed standards for efficiency in datacenters,
while the Cloud Infrastructure Service Providers in Europe (CISPE) tried to pre-empt
the EU’s Water Resilience Strategy with recommendations of its own.

Grundfos advises regulators to integrate water efficiency and cooling design requirements directly into
planning approvals for new facilities and any large-scale expansions to encourage
adoption of efficient cooling technologies.

It also advocates investment incentives from governments such
as tax credits, green financing mechanisms, and grant programs for technologies
that demonstrably reduce energy and water consumption.

Integration between server
halls and district heating networks is another aspect worth consideration, the report adds. Realizing the potential of excess heat
reuse depends less on technical feasibility than on institutional and contractual alignment, with the main barrier being negotiations between datacenter operators, district heating utilities, and municipalities.

“Efficiency must be the default for datacenter growth,” commented
Inge Delobelle, CEO of Grundfos’ Industry division.

“Clear and predictable policy frameworks should guide
decisions and speed up investment in proven systems that reduce water and
energy consumption. That way, we support responsible growth that safeguards
local resources.”  ®