12 avril 2023
Publication series – 16 de 18 Publications
End of October 2022, the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK) presented a draft bill for a law to increase energy efficiency and amend the Energy Services Act (EnEfG), (See our initial insight) which envisaged considerable efficiency requirements for data centers and has since been the subject of controversial debate in the industry and in politics.
On April 3, 2023, the German government published the eagerly awaited revision of the draft bill. Despite some relief for data center operators, the new draft also contains a significant set of additional obligations compared to the current situation and legal framework. This applies in particular to data centers that start operations from January 01, 2025. On 19th of April 2023, The Federal Cabinet approved the approved the revised draft bill (link) without further significant changes. The draft law will now be forwarded to the parliamentary procedure.
Below you will find a synopsis to illustrate the main changes of the Federal government’s draft bill (RefE) compared to the initial BMWK’s draft of October 2022.
Data centers are to replace their electricity consumption
On the balance sheet, data center operators are to cover their energy consumption
Data centers that begin operations on or after January 1, 2025, must maintain a planned power consumption effectiveness of ≤ 1.3 for the first two years of operations.
Data centers that commence operations before July 1, 2026, shall be constructed and operated in such a way that they
Data centers commencing operations on or after July 1, 2026 shall be constructed and operated to achieve an energy use effectiveness of ≤ 1.3.
Compared to the October 2022 draft, the requirements for the energy efficiency of data centers have been reduced. This relates in particular to the Energy Reuse Factor (ERF). For example, according to the current draft, data centers must have a planned share of reused energy of at least 20 percent when they commence operations on or after July 1, 2028. According to the October 2022 draft, this value was to be at least 40 percent for start of operations from January 1, 2027. The requirements were also reduced with regard to the use of renewable energies and the PUE ratio.
However, the German government's draft bill still sets high requirements for the operation of data centers, which will require considerable investment by operators. In the highly internationalized data center market, this can have a significant impact on operators' location decisions.
par plusieurs auteurs
Q&A series: Energy & Infrastructure
12 July 2021
par Carsten Bartholl
Q&A series: Energy & Infrastructure
23 March 2021
Q&A series: Energy & Infrastructure
6 April 2021
Q&A series: Energy & Infrastructure
25 May 2021
Q&A series: Energy & Infrastructure
8 June 2021
Q&A series: Energy & Infrastructure
18 August 2021
Q&A series: Energy & Infrastructure
21 September 2021
par Olav Nemling
Q&A series: Energy & Infrastructure
2 December 2021
Q&A series: Energy & Infrastructure
11 January 2022
Q&A series: Energy & Infrastructure
14 February 2022
Q&A series: Energy & Infrastructure
15 March 2022
Q&A Serie: Energy & Infrastructure
27 April 2022
Q&A Series: Energy & Infrastructure
5 May 2022
12 April 2023
par plusieurs auteurs
6 July 2023
1 September 2023
par Dr. Paul Voigt, Lic. en Derecho, CIPP/E, Alexander Schmalenberger, LL.B.
par plusieurs auteurs
par plusieurs auteurs
#11 Rooftop Solar Systems