The new regulatory framework for data centres, which has been open for consultation since Saturday, is designed to prevent opportunistic business moves and give priority only to mature investment projects, so as to avoid a repeat of the distorted development model seen in renewables.
At a time when the rapid boom in artificial intelligence and cloud computing is fuelling international concern about data centres, and applications for similar investments in Greece are now approaching 9 GW — compared with... 5-6 GW, the average nationwide electricity demand on a typical day — the aim of the new framework is to advance only mature projects.
This is both because the electricity grid has finite capacity to begin with and to avoid a repeat of the past, when a host of renewable energy projects rushed to resell their permits on the secondary market, tying up grid capacity while much more mature projects waited in the queue.
To prevent a repeat of what happened in the past, the framework under consultation stipulates that new data centres must cover at least 60% of their annual electricity consumption with renewable energy, while anyone applying for a Connection Offer must provide or have:
- A bank guarantee of €200,000 per MW, valid for at least three years, to curb immature applications that tie up grid capacity
- An approved Environmental Impact Assessment
- A lease of at least 10 years for the land on which the data centre will be built, if the site is leased or granted under concession
- Annual turnover of more than 30% of the construction cost of the specific project (if it is connected to the IPTO system), based on an assumed development cost of €10 million per megawatt (10,000,000 €/MW), for at least one year in the past three years
- Pre-approval of a building permit
Investors to cover connection costs
The sixth hurdle for opportunistic investments is that the applicant must bear the full cost of connection and any works needed to reinforce the electricity system that are caused exclusively by the data centre’s connection.
This obligation applies whether the Extra-High Voltage Substation (EHV substation) to which the project is seeking to connect is partially congested or uncongested.
If the applicant wishes to connect the data centre to an existing congested EHV substation, it will either be informed that a Connection Offer cannot be granted, the operator may issue an offer to connect to another uncongested EHV substation, or it may receive a final Connection Offer subject to building a new substation or EHV substation.
Assessment every two months
Every two months, IPTO will assess the capacity of existing Extra-High Voltage Substations to accommodate new data centres and classify them as congested, partially congested or uncongested. An EHV substation is considered partially congested when its capacity to accommodate new consumption projects is less than 50% of the estimated total capacity available to serve projects.
IPTO will then submit the relevant list of EHV substations and their capacity to accommodate new data centre applications to RAAEY for assessment and approval. Within one month of receiving the information, RAAEY will publish the list of EHV substations, their capacity to accommodate new data centres and their classification as congested, partially congested or uncongested.
At the same time, the creation of a Data Centre Register at RAAEY is envisaged to monitor the development of the sector centrally and enhance transparency.
Priority assessment for projects of 200 MW or more
Asked which applications will be assessed as a priority for the granting of connection terms, the answer is those for data centres with capacity of 200 MW or more, provided they have a six-hour battery and use it to cover at least 80% of the project’s consumption.
According to the provision, “applications for a Connection Offer for data centres with capacity above 200 MW shall be assessed with absolute priority over other applications, provided that the holder submits a statutory declaration to the operator that at least 80% of the maximum power consumption of the plant will be covered by a battery with a capacity of at least six hours of the data centre’s maximum power consumption”.