German Parliament adopts Act on Energy Efficiency, imposing requirements regarding energy efficiency, renewable energy and disclosure for data centres

Requirements for efficiency
Power Usage Effectiveness and energy reuse

Data centres which become operational before 1 January 2026 must be designed to perform to an annual average Power Usage Effectiveness (i.e. the ratio of total energy consumption by the data centre to the energy allocated for IT load) of:

• no higher than 1.5 as of 1 July 2027, and
• 1.3 or lower as of 1 July 2030.

Data centres which are commissioned 1 January 2026 or later must be designed and operated to achieve:

• a Power Usage Effectiveness of 1.2 or lower, and
• a Energy Reuse Factor of at least 10%.

If a facility becomes operational on or after 1 July 2027, that Factor rises to 15%, rising to 20% for data centres commissioned on or after 1 July 2028. The Energy Reuse Factor is to be calculated according to the standard DIN EN 50600-4-6 (on data centre facilities and infrastructures).

The relevant data centre must be shown to perform to these metrics within two years of the building becoming operational (and to perform to these standards thereafter). When calculating the Power Usage Effectiveness, electric power used in capturing and reinforcing waste heat from the data centre will be disregarded.

Minimum air cooling temperature

Legislative requirements regarding the supply temperature for air cooling in data centres, as proposed by the Government’s bill, have been dropped after the discussions in the Parliament Committee for Climate Action and Energy (Ausschuss für Klimaschutz und Energie).

Definition of “data centre”

“Data centre” includes all structures for housing information technology and telecommunication network equipment for storing, processing, and transporting data, and equipment and infrastructure for securing services with a non-redundant nominal power connection capacity of 300 kW or more. This threshold has originally been set by the Government bill at 200 kW. The Committee has added that data centres which predominantly provide for connectivity to other data centres – this aims at Internet exchange points – are not caught by the Act.

Obligation to use renewable power

Data centre operators will have to source electric power from renewable energy plants,

• starting 1 January 2024, to cover at least 50% of the power consumption in their data centres
• starting 1 January 2027, completely.

The requirement previously proposed that data centres must be using “unsubsidized power” i.e. power that does not benefit from aid pursuant to the Renewable Energies Act (Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz), the Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Production Act (Kraft-Wärme-Kopplungsgesetz) or other aid (within the meaning of the Renewable Energies Directive of 11 December 2018), has also been dropped. No “physical” purchase of renewable power will be necessary, and “respective certificates” will be sufficient evidence. This should include guarantees of origin (Herkunftsnachweise) as provided in the German Renewable Energies Act.

The Act has not addressed whether power which data centre users source themselves from suppliers other than the data centre operator, such as where a customer of a data centre procures its own electricity, must also be from renewable sources.

Use of waste heat

Obligations for all companies

All businesses, including data centres, with an annual average energy consumption of more than 2.5 GWh will be obliged to minimise waste heat where technically possible, and implement measure – so far as possible and reasonable (zumutbar) – to either re-use waste heat in their own operations or provide it to third parties. What constitutes “reasonable” in this context is to be assessed technically, economically and operationally.

Upon request, such businesses will be obliged to provide information to heat suppliers and other possible buyers of heat regarding the quantum and “quality” (i.e. temperature, consistency etc.) of the waste heat available from their operations. Every year until 31 March, they will have to submit that data for the preceding calendar year to the Federal Office for Energy Efficiency (Bundesstelle für Energieeffizienz, which is part of the Bundesamt für Wirtschaft und Ausfuhrkontrolle, Bafa). The Federal Office for Energy Efficiency will publish this information on a platform, subject to protection of business secrets.

Energy reuse of data centres

The Energy Reuse Factor will not apply where an agreement is in place between the data centre operator and a municipality or heat network operator by which the municipality or network operator states its intention to build or allow heat networks by which the requirements on energy reuse will be fulfilled within 10 years. That agreement must include, among others, for an investment plan.

The data centre operator will also be relieved from the Energy Reuse Factor if:

• the share of energy reused is reduced due to subsequent events with no fault of the operator
• the operator of a heat network in the surroundings (“Umgebung”) of the data centre does not accept the offer of waste heat supply at production cost, which is not defined, within six months, although the data centre operator provides the infrastructure for supplying the heat. The Committee has removed detailed provisions on the necessary capacity of the heat network and the distance between the data centre and the heat network.

Energy and environmental management systems for data centres

Data centre operators will have to implement an environmental management system by no later than 1 July 2025. If the data centre has a nominal connection capacity of 1MW or more, the environmental management system must, with effect from 1 January 2026, be certified or validated as compliant with the standards required by Regulation (EC) 1221/2009, which established the eco-management and audit scheme.

The same requirement applies to operators of information technology with a capacity of 500 kW or more, with effect from 1 January 2026.

Operators of information technology” are individuals or entities which operate information technology within a data centre with non-redundant nominal power of 50 kW or more, but which are not operators of that data centre.

Disclosure obligations for operators of data centres and of information technology

Data centre operators are required to publish specific information regarding the use of energy and production of waste heat in their data centres, and to provide that information to the Federal Republic of Germany. To the extent operators of data centres provide services to customers, with effect from 1 January 2024 they will be required to notify customers of their energy consumption, to the extent such energy consumption can be directly attributed to that customer.

Action!

Data centre developers, operators and users need to act now to address the implementation of the Act’s requirements into their existing data centre operations and development plans, and to the extent relevant to the negotiation of customer contracts. In comparison to the drafts of the Government and of the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz, BMWK), Parliament has answered to some criticism and abandoned several highly detailed and potentially bureaucratic provisions. Nevertheless, the impact on the data centre industry will be substantial.