- Industry leaders at Datacloud Energy & ESG 2025 highlight the urgent need for regulatory clarity and collaborative energy planning.
- The event underscores the importance of transparency in power allocation and the need for a systemic shift towards sustainable digital infrastructure.
What happened: Urgent calls for grid reform at Datacloud Energy & ESG 2025
At Datacloud Energy & ESG 2025, industry leaders gathered in Brussels to address the pressing challenge of aligning data centre growth with grid reforms. The discussion featured executives from data centre operators, industry associations, and grid operators, who emphasised the need for regulatory clarity and transparency in power allocation.
Dame Dawn Childs, CEO of Pure Data Centres Group, highlighted the misalignment between the rapid expansion of digital infrastructure and the slow pace of grid reforms. Michael Winterson, Managing Director of the European Data Centre Association (EUDCA), called for a fundamental shift in mindset, advocating for a collaborative approach where regulators, grid operators, and data centres work as a team.
Max Schulze, Executive Chair of the Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Alliance, pointed to instances of large power allocations made without public scrutiny, impacting other industries and the broader energy transition. Bart van der Laan, Programme Manager at Alliander, underscored the importance of long-term planning, noting that infrastructure must be designed to last at least 40 years.
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Why it’s important
The discussions at Datacloud Energy & ESG 2025 highlight the critical need for regulatory adaptation and collaboration between the digital and energy sectors. As data centres continue to grow rapidly, the current grid infrastructure struggles to keep pace, leading to inefficiencies and sustainability challenges.
The event underscored the importance of transparency in power allocation, ensuring that grid investments yield clear benefits to society. By advocating for a more strategic approach to grid planning and regulatory clarity, industry leaders aim to position data centres as enablers of grid stability rather than burdens on capacity. This collaborative effort is essential for building a sustainable and efficient digital infrastructure market.
