Europe’s power grid mismatch stalls multi-billion euro AWS cloud plans
Amazon Web Services warns that securing power grid connections in Europe takes up to seven years, exceeding the two years required to build a data center and hindering expansion plans across the region.
Pamela MacDougall, AWS’s head of energy markets and regulation for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, stated to Reuters that the grid connection timeline has become one of the biggest deciding factors in the company’s data center investment decisions. She highlighted a core issue in Europe’s infrastructure landscape where development timelines fail to align with operational needs.
MacDougall explained, There’s a misalignment. We want to expand and grow within two years. In many countries across Europe, Amazon sought to construct new infrastructure, but the absence of available grid connections or congestion within power networks rendered those projects unfeasible. This discrepancy directly impacts the feasibility of new builds, as companies like AWS prioritize rapid deployment to meet demand.
Energy-intensive industries, including those in data processing and cloud services, urge the European Union to allocate greater resources toward grid infrastructure upgrades. For comparison, connection wait times in the United States average one to three years, as reported by the International Energy Agency, although certain instances extend to seven years. These U.S. figures provide a benchmark, underscoring Europe’s relatively prolonged delays.
Italy and Spain face especially severe disruptions from backlogs of speculative applications. These consist of grid capacity reservations submitted preemptively by developers unlikely to advance their projects. Under prevailing first-come, first-served rules, such reservations obstruct more practical initiatives from progressing, according to electricity industry association Eurelectric. This queue congestion exacerbates capacity shortages in high-demand areas.
In December, the European Commission introduced proposed legal reforms aimed at limiting authorities’ grid permit approval periods to a maximum of two years. The measures also seek to waive environmental assessments for select grid projects. Negotiations among EU countries and lawmakers continue on these initiatives, which target streamlining processes to accelerate infrastructure delivery.
MacDougall holds the position of vice-chair at the Green Industrial Grids Association, known as GIGA. This industry group launched in January 2025 to promote grid modernization efforts. Founding members encompass Meta, Google, Microsoft, Siemens Energy, and Hitachi Energy, forming a coalition to address systemic bottlenecks.
The European Commission projects that upgrading Europe’s power grids necessitates roughly €1.2 trillion in investments by 2040. This substantial figure accounts for expansions, reinforcements, and technological enhancements required to support rising electricity demands from various sectors.
Data center power consumption in Europe stands to nearly double by 2030, climbing to 36 gigawatts, per analysis from S&P Global Market Intelligence 451 Research. This forecast reflects surging requirements from cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and digital services.
AWS operates data centers across more than 20 countries in Europe without disclosing exact counts. The company pursues expansions in France, Germany, and Spain. It committed €15.7 billion to investments in Spain extending through 2033 and €7.8 billion in Germany through 2040, earmarked for its European Sovereign Cloud initiative.
MacDougall observed, We’re finding more and more across Europe that certainty of the delivery date has continued to be delayed. These persistent postponements affect planning and execution at multiple sites.