A wave of aging coal and gas power stations across Europe is being targeted for a new lease on life, as tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon scout former energy sites for transformation into data centers.
The facilities, already equipped with essential power connections and water infrastructure, provide critical resources that are highly sought after in the rapidly expanding AI and cloud services sectors.
European utilities—including France’s Engie, Germany’s RWE, and Italy’s Enel—are seizing the opportunity to tap into exploding energy demand driven by artificial intelligence.
By converting decommissioned plants into cutting-edge digital hubs, utilities can offset the substantial costs tied to closures and secure long-term, high-margin energy contracts with major tech players.
For the technology companies, the appeal lies in speed and efficiency: the vast cooling systems and grid access built into these legacy sites help circumvent bottlenecks that have slowed data center development elsewhere.
Amazon’s EMEA energy director Lindsay McQuade noted that the permitting process for new data centers is expected to move faster on former electricity generation sites, where much of the groundwork is already established.
The collaboration delivers not only just land deals for utilities, but also establishes a long-term relationship, said RWE’s head of global partnerships, Simon Stanton. He cited the opportunity for steady, attractive revenue streams and reduced infrastructure risk through deep business ties with the world’s biggest cloud providers.
An estimated 153 coal and lignite plants in the EU and Britain are scheduled to close by 2038 as countries push toward net-zero goals—joining 190 closures since 2005, according to environmental group Beyond Fossil Fuels.
