The planned data centre near Rødbyhavn will require large amounts of electricity.
But Stender, the development company behind the project, is prepared for the power supply from the grid to be reduced for short periods. The company has informed Energinet of this.
- We have to be creative and flexible if a large data centre is to be established on Lolland, CEO Allan Egeris Arentsen writes to FemernBusiness.
At full operation, the data centre itself is expected to require around 960 MW of power. Stender can accept short-term restrictions, but only affecting a small share of the total supply.
The developer is still waiting to hear how much grid capacity the project can receive and expects a response from Energinet at the end of November.
Waiting for an answer
A willingness to reduce consumption can in some cases help data centres get started sooner. That is according to Troels Hartung, Head of Sustainability at TEKNIQ, the industry organisation for Denmark’s technical trades.
One option is to begin with lower electricity consumption, while another is to reduce demand during the hours when the grid is under the greatest pressure.
- In some cases, this can make an earlier or gradual connection possible because the project does not necessarily need full, guaranteed grid capacity from day one, he tells FemernBusiness.
This requires a specific technical assessment by Energinet and the relevant grid company. The data centre must be able to document how much it can reduce its consumption, and the restrictions must be measurable and controllable.
In other words, the data centre must be able to lower its electricity consumption when the grid is under pressure and the agreement requires it. According to Allan Egeris Arentsen, Stender can accept a certain degree of curtailment, but there are limits to its flexibility. The restrictions must be short-lived and affect only a small proportion of the power supply.
- Like all other parties that have requested electricity from the national grid, we are now waiting for Energinet to tell us how much power we will be allocated. It appears that this response will come at the end of November 2026.
Batteries can also reduce demand on the grid for limited periods, but they need to be recharged and, if managed incorrectly, can create new peaks in demand, Hartung explains. They therefore cannot solve the entire challenge.
- For a data centre with a very large and continuous electricity demand, batteries and flexibility cannot replace the necessary expansion of the grid, he says.
