AI and energy grids in Europe: speeding up access and managing the transition

Europe finds itself in a momentous occasion; renewable energy is now the largest contributor to the  total EU energy production with a share of about 50%, followed by nuclear as the second largest source.  While the majority of the European energy consumption still comes from energy imports of fossil fuels,  they have decreased both in value and in volume since 2022. The most recent global energy shock  caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is also showing the inherent vulnerability of relying on  fossil fuel imports.

In this context, the connection between artificial intelligence, data centres and the energy system  represents another major driver of change, central to the upcoming European Commission Tech Sovereignty package and the ambition to triple data centre capacity by 2035. Data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) also shows  that the capital expenditure on data centre investment of the five largest technology companies is now  larger than the global investment in oil and natural gas production. This rapid expansion is highlighting  some of the bottlenecks that had already been identified for European energy grids, such as connection  queues affecting renewable energy and electrification of industry, long planning and permitting  procedures, supply-chain constraints, and the substantial financing required for grid expansion and modernisation.

The current expansion can however also provide the opportunity to address these long-standing issues  and be a major driver of innovation in the energy sector, taking advantage of the transformative effects  of the recent technological advancements in artificial intelligence. This high-level discussion will  explore what concrete actions are needed from regulators, energy sector actors and AI developers to  increase connection of AI-related projects to energy grids and to avoid a mismatch between the current  energy investments and demand arising from data centres.

Following the publication of the European Commission strategic roadmap for digitalisation and AI in  energy, a critical part of this second policymakers’ debate led by Friends of Europe will be devoted to discussing how to achieve Europe’s goal to speed up the deployment of data centre infrastructure and their integration in the grid infrastructure, at a moment where trust, transparency and energy  affordability are crucial points of discussion for local communities, energy sector actors and public  authorities.

Related content:

• Policy Paper | Grids Package: connecting the dots by Phuc-Vinh Nguyen and Alice Moscovici, Institut Jacques Delors
• Event | AI: a critical driver of change with Laura Cozzi, IEA, and Adam Elman, Google, 23rd September 2025
• Event | Can data centres meet Europe’s digital and energy ambitions? by Friends of Europe, 14 April 2026

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