Amazon's European Data Center Expansion Stalls Amid Seven-Year Grid Connection Delays
February 3, 2026
The rapid expansion of cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure is colliding with the physical limitations of Europe's aging power grids, creating a critical bottleneck for hyperscale operators. Securing reliable and timely electricity connections has emerged as the primary constraint for new data center construction, threatening to slow the pace of digital transformation across the continent.
Amazon Web Services (AWS), a leading force in the European cloud market, is facing significant delays in its buildout plans due to protracted waits for grid connections. Pamela MacDougall, Head of Energy Markets and Regulation for AWS in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, revealed in an interview that while constructing a new data center facility may take approximately two years, securing the necessary power connection can extend up to seven years. In major European data center hubs such as Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that these wait times can even stretch to a decade.
"We're finding more and more across Europe that certainty of the delivery date has continued to be delayed," MacDougall stated, highlighting the growing unpredictability. This challenge is not confined to Europe; in key U.S. markets like Northern Virginia, connection lead times are also approaching seven years, according to a recent IEA report.
The problem has been dramatically exacerbated by the AI boom, now in its fourth year. Since the debut of ChatGPT in 2022, power demands have skyrocketed. Typical data center rack power densities have surged from 6-12 kW to over 140 kW, with systems consuming up to 600 kW anticipated to roll out soon. Furthermore, AI training workloads create extreme, spiky demand patterns, where utilization can jump from a few percent to 100% in milliseconds, leaving grid operators with little time to respond to sudden surges.
In response to these grid constraints, cloud giants are aggressively pursuing alternative power strategies. Last year, Amazon purchased the Cumulus data center campus adjacent to a nuclear power plant from Talen Energy. Rivals like Microsoft and Meta are similarly investing in projects to extend the life of existing nuclear plants or develop new nuclear capacity. There is also significant industry interest in small modular reactors (SMRs), though their commercial viability and mass production are not expected until the 2030s.
The implications for the European tech sector are profound. Lengthy permitting processes for grid upgrades, coupled with supply chain shortages for critical components like turbines, suggest these delays may persist. For cloud providers, the seven-year wait for a grid connection, while severe, may currently be a more predictable option than waiting for next-generation energy solutions. This infrastructure crunch forces a fundamental reassessment of expansion roadmaps and underscores the urgent need for coordinated investment in energy and digital infrastructure.
Source: theregister
