According to a new S&P Global report, US data centers are far outpacing their European counterparts in clean energy procurement.

According to the report, the US data center sector had contracted upwards of 50GW of clean energy as of Q3 2024. Solar represents the dominant source of supply, with 29GW, followed by wind at 13GW.

There was also growth within hybrid and nuclear procurement, with several high-profile nuclear supply deals signed. These included a landmark 20-year power purchase agreement between Microsoft and Constellation Energy for 100 percent of the revived Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.

Europe’s clean energy procurement sector was dominated by the four big tech companies, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta, which procured 12GW of clean energy alone. This was a significant increase from 2023, contracting 5.3GW compared to 3.7GW for all of 2023. For example, in June, Microsoft signed 420MW worth of PPAs with Repsol and European Energy across Spain, Sweden, and Denmark.

Despite falling far short of the US market, European data center demand is expected to grow exponentially. Forecasts from 451 Research, an S&P Global Market Intelligence unit, indicated that the average European data center demand will double from around 10GW in 2019 to 20GW in 2026.

Spain is Europe’s leading market for data center PPAs, securing 4.7GW, with solar photovoltaic projects accounting for 60 percent of the capacity.

Ireland follows as the continent’s second-largest data center PPA market, with contracts totaling 2GW.

In the FLAP (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris) markets —which includes Europe’s highest concentration of data centers—contracted capacity reached approximately 4.5GW, predominantly wind-powered. The Netherlands leads the region with 1.5GW, while Germany and the United Kingdom each contribute around 1.3GW.

Data centers are poised to contract over 300TWh/year of PPAs in the next five years. In comparison, the global PPA market is projected at 600TWh/year, demonstrating the growing dominance of tech companies in clean energy procurement.

https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/sp-us-data-centers-outpacing-european-counterparts-in-clean-energy-procurement/