Amsterdam is putting the brakes on the addition of new data centres

The municipality of Amsterdam has decided to pause the construction of new data centres until the end of the year. The capital attracted tech companies with attractive taxes and relatively cheap energy, but according to the city there are now too many data centers.

The capital has more data centers than any other major city in the world, writes ITPro Today. In fact, about 70 percent of the data centres in the Netherlands are located in Amsterdam, which is home to about a third of all data centres in Europe. However, the speed with which they are open is putting pressure on their own market and electricity networks. Many of the centres have been opened in the last five years.

Mariëtte Sedee, alderman for Spatial Planning in Haarlemmermeer, states that a break is needed and that policy must first be drawn up. This should give the city more control over the location of the data centres.

The Dutch Data Center Association is not happy with the choice of the municipality. “Our excellent data center infrastructure is a magnet for (international) tech companies and comes with a lot of employment,” says the group. “We’re surprised that now suddenly such a rigorous decision is being made.”

Google Data Centers

In and around Amsterdam there are data centres of large companies such as Microsoft and Google. These companies also have data centres in Groningen, with a cable to the capital. Google even said at the end of June to invest another billion euros in expanding its data center infrastructure. A new facility will be built in Hollandse Kroon, north of Amsterdam. The building in Eemshaven is being expanded.

So now there is temporarily no longer any approval for the construction of new data centres. This is necessary because local authorities currently have few opportunities to control the exact location of such facilities and the requirements they have to meet. The aim is to ensure that data centres take up as little space as possible and that they fit in well with their surroundings, according to the municipality.

The municipality places an emphasis on sustainable development. “We are going to make demands in the area to make the remaining heat available free of charge for heating houses and for the use of green energy”, says alderman Marieke van Doornick of Sustainability and Spatial Planning in Amsterdam.