Amsterdam Is Closed to New Data Centres Until 2035, and the Grid Agrees

Amsterdam has long been one of Europe's main data centre hubs. In 2026 it has become the clearest example in Europe of a market closed by two separate limits at once: planning rules that forbid new facilities and a transmission grid with no room left to connect them. A project needs both a planning consent and a grid connection, as a timeline compiled by Serverside notes, so either limit can stop it. In December 2020 Amsterdam adopted its data centre policy for 2020 to 2030, capping growth at 670 MVA to 2030 and requiring a power usage effectiveness below 1.2.

In December 2023 the city announced a temporary stop on new data centres until 2030. On 19 December 2024 it was announced, according to the Serverside timeline, that there would be no extra capacity in large parts of Noord-Holland for the next ten years, with overloads expected from 2026 north of Beverwijk and around the Vijfhuizen high-voltage substation, which serves south-west Amsterdam. TenneT, the national transmission operator, has placed applications from large consumers for new or heavier connections on a waiting list.

It says the provincial grid could still become overloaded as early as winter 2026-27, because existing connections will also draw more power. The company is investigating whether the Vijfhuizen grid can be loaded more heavily and whether it can use emergency capacity for the largest consumers that have their own backup power. Goodman argued that its connection process was advanced enough for it to count as a contracted customer, which would have protected it from the queue.

Goodman first discussed a 110 MVA high-voltage connection with TenneT, which said in August 2021 that at most 80 MVA was available. For operators, Amsterdam's closure pushes growth elsewhere: to designated hyperscale zones, to other Dutch regions with grid headroom and to competing hubs across northern Europe. The milestones are TenneT's reinforcement schedule and the next round of congestion studies.