Compare data center regulation

A future royal decree will fix the requirements; they may include renewable additionality and hourly correlation, energy efficiency, sustainable water use, socio-economic benefits and a contribution to digital resilience/sovereignty, and apply to all data centres connecting after it enters into force. Non-compliance can cost the access/connection permits or bring penalties. Decree-law in force since 22 Mar 2026 (validated by Congress 26 Mar 2026); implementing royal decree not yet found.

Data centres connecting to the grid after the implementing royal decree takes effect will have to meet its conditions (e.g. hourly-matched, additional renewables, efficiency, water use) or risk losing their grid access and connection permits.

Transmission nodes ≥220 kV; requests published for one month, oversubscription triggers a tender resolved within 6 months; award criteria include start date, demand flexibility, energy efficiency, socio-economic/environmental/territorial impact, investment and avoided emissions. Added by RDL 8/2023 (art. 31.4); clarified by RDL 7/2026.

At congested transmission nodes of 220 kV or more, a data-centre developer may have to win grid capacity in a competitive tender rather than first-come-first-served, and loses it if it breaks its tender commitments.

Firm access = maximum power guaranteed in every hour of the year; flexible access = capacity not guaranteed all year because of network constraints; available capacity per node published and updated monthly. Published 11 Oct 2024; in force 11 Jan 2025.

Defines how grid operators assess a data centre's firm or flexible demand access and obliges monthly publication of available demand capacity per node, which developers use to screen sites.

Reduced accise rate on the electricity a data centre consumes above 1 GWh/yr, conditional on an ISO 50001 energy-management system (with further relief for electro-intensive sites).

Typical effect of this kind of measure: Lowers the cost of building or running a data center here (tax breaks, cheaper power, grants). A siting incentive: pulls investment in rather than constraining it.

L.236-1: installed server-room power ≥500 kW → transmit administrative, environmental and energy data to the EU platform and make it public. L.236-2: ≥1 MW → valorise waste heat (derogations by decree). L.236-3: formal notice of at most 1 year, then an administrative fine of at most €50,000 per data centre. Created by loi n° 2025-391 of 30 Apr 2025; most provisions in force 1 Oct 2025.

A site with ≥500 kW of server-room power must publish its energy and environmental data; from 1 MW it must reuse its waste heat, with fines of up to €50,000 per data centre for non-compliance.

Declaration within 2 months of commissioning; administrative, environmental and energy information for the previous year by 15 May each year; deemed to valorise waste heat if ERF (Annex III of Delegated Reg. 2024/1364) ≥ 0.20, with a cost-benefit/derogation route for sites where it is not attainable. In force 1 Jan 2026.

A new site must be declared within 2 months of commissioning and report every year by 15 May; it only counts as reusing waste heat if its ERF is at least 0.20.

Amends art. 167 of loi de finances 2021: criteria go from seven to nine (valorise waste heat, e.g. via a heating/cooling network, or meet a numeric efficiency indicator set by decree; and meet a cooling-water indicator set by decree). A Senate report of Feb 2026 still called for the implementing decree.

To keep the reduced electricity excise rate, a data centre will have to reuse its waste heat or meet a decree-set efficiency indicator, and meet a cooling-water indicator.

Qualification by decree where the project's purpose and scale (investment, installed power) matter for the digital or ecological transition or national sovereignty; effect limited to a State-led planning-compatibility procedure. ZAN exemption censured (Décision 2026-903 DC, 21 May 2026). Law of 26 May 2026.

A large data centre can be designated a project of major national interest by decree, letting the State align local planning documents with it; it does not by itself grant an environmental derogation.

Revenue ≥ €10M or installed IT power ≥ 100 kW (reduced set for 100–500 kW operators under €10M); energy by use, water withdrawals, artificialised land, refrigerant emissions and GHG for the previous year, due 31 March. Replaces Décision 2023-2488; published in the JO on 14 Mar 2025.

Operators with French revenue ≥ €10M or IT power ≥ 100 kW must report energy, water, land take, refrigerants and GHG data to Arcep by 31 March each year.

63 identified sites; 'Guide pour l'implantation de centres de données' (Nov 2025); support via DREETS, regional development agencies and prefectures.

Developers can target 63 pre-identified sites and get support from prefectures, DREETS and regional development agencies; ADEME can co-fund heat recovery.

5 fast-track sites (4 allocated to operators meeting technical and financial requirements); shared zones of about 1,200 MW (south Île-de-France) and 500 MW (Marseille area); procedure approved by CRE.

Fast-track sites next to the 400 kV grid and shared connection zones (~1,200 MW south of Île-de-France, ~500 MW near Marseille) shorten connection times and pool network costs.

Case-by-case government agreement published in the BOA under art. 7 bis of Decreto-ley 1/2008 (added by Decreto-ley 4/2019); effects under regional spatial-planning law, possibly including public-utility status for expropriation. Other data-centre declarations in the BOA include Tillion Aragón (Villamayor de Gállego, 2025) and projects at La Puebla de Alfindén, Villanueva de Gállego and Calatorao.

A declared data-centre campus is planned through Aragón's regional route (Plan/Proyecto de Interés General, PIGA), which can override municipal planning and support expropriation, speeding up large campuses.

Deliberation of 20 Oct 2023 'Stratégie municipale pour une implantation planifiée et régulée des câbles sous-marins et des data centers'; criteria: already artificialised, polluted or disused land; land and marine biodiversity; link with renewable production and heat recovery; local employment; architectural quality. A consultative commission reviews projects; the city states it has no decision power over subsea cables.

Projects in Marseille are assessed by a municipal consultative commission against siting criteria (brownfield or already-artificialised land, biodiversity, renewables and heat recovery, local jobs, urban integration); the criteria are not binding, as planning powers sit with the Métropole.