Germany Eases Data Center Rules: Reusing Waste Heat No Longer Mandatory
Germany's government has scrapped a requirement for new data centers to reuse waste heat, leaving only a duty to assess feasibility, after industry complaints. Critics say climate goals are being sacrificed to ride the AI boom.
The German federal government in June withdrew a rule requiring new data centers to reuse part of the heat they generate. The move highlights a tension between the country's wish to expand artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and European Union commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent by the end of the decade.
What the original rules required
Germany announced this year a plan to double its data center fleet by 2030 and quadruple the computing capacity available for AI models. The aim is to reduce dependence on the United States and lift a faltering economy. However, the Energy Efficiency Act, passed in 2023 by the previous government, required new data centers to recycle waste heat, ideally into nearby municipal heating networks. Patrick Graichen, then a senior official at the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, saw it as a no-brainer: data centers are a source of clean heat.
Industry objections and the amendment
Data center firms complained that the rules made building in Germany almost impossible. The German Data Center Association called an early draft a "data center prevention act." The main worry was being obliged to reuse heat even when no buyer exists, such as a heating network or a greenhouse farm. Under the amended bill, which is soon to go before parliament, operators need only assess whether reuse is economically and technically feasible, and are exempt if it is not.
In the past 18 months several projects have fallen through in Germany. Stack Infrastructure canceled a $3 billion facility in Hesse, and state-owned Komm.ONE withdrew from a project in Baden-Württemberg, directly citing the Act's burdens.
A divided debate
Graichen argues the industry's objections are groundless. John Booth of consultancy Carbon3IT says there is no technical reason a data center cannot use its waste heat. Katherina Reiche, the federal economy and energy minister, said practical rules create conditions for digital sovereignty and economic growth. In February, the council of a small German town voted to block a $2.5 billion data center, partly over climate concerns.
