Did you know? In 2023, around 10 TWh of renewable energy were lost in Germany due to insufficient grid capacity – that’s 4–5% of the total renewable electricity generation and enough to power > 3 million households for one year.¹
The Core Problem in Numbers
- 10 TWh curtailed renewables in 2023 (≈ 4–5% of sustainable generation)
- 93% of this came from wind farms in the North²
- €3.1 billion in redispatch costs (2023)³
Why is this relevant?
- “Electricity highways” cross > 100 municipalities – in some cases 13,500 individual approvals per route⁴
- Underground cabling instead of overhead lines: cost ×3 and +3 years construction time⁵
- § 13k EnWG (“Use instead of curtail”): In effect since 10/2024, hardly any uptake⁶
Germany wastes enough clean electricity every year to operate large parts of its digital infrastructure climate-neutrally. Delayed grid expansion, expensive underground cabling, and unused flexibility programs slow down Germany’s digital ambitions – and increase costs for cloud, AI & co.
How do we move forward?
Answers to these questions will be found at the German Datacenter Conference. Representatives from the Federal Network Agency, transmission system operators, energy producers, and a wide range of data center industry experts will discuss concrete solutions – from technological innovations and accelerated approvals to flexibility marketplaces.
Current Agenda & Registration for #GDACon25, September 17 & 18, 2025
Details about the agenda, confirmed speakers of the German Datacenter Conference, and tickets are available at
https://events.germandatacenters.com/gdc/gdacon2025/event.php?pg=&setlang=en
