Amazon Web Services (AWS) has warned that securing power grid connections in Europe can take up to seven years, compared to roughly two years required to build a data center. This mismatch challenges the company’s growth plans, according to AWS executive Pamela MacDougall.
MacDougall, AWS’s head of energy markets and regulation for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, told Reuters that grid connection timelines have become “one of the biggest deciding factors” in data center investment decisions. “There’s a misalignment. We want to expand and grow within two years,” she said. In many European countries, missing grid connections or power network congestion have made projects unfeasible.
Energy-intensive industries are urging the European Union to invest more in grid infrastructure. In the United States, connection wait times average one to three years, according to the International Energy Agency, though they can reach seven years in some cases.
Italy and Spain face particularly severe delays due to backlogs of “speculative” grid capacity reservations. Developers file these as precautions but often do not proceed, blocking more viable projects under first-come, first-served rules, according to electricity industry association Eurelectric.
In December, the European Commission proposed legal changes to cap grid permit approval deadlines at a maximum of two years and exempt some grid projects from environmental assessments. EU countries and lawmakers continue to negotiate these proposals.
MacDougall serves as vice-chair of the Green Industrial Grids Association (GIGA), launched in January 2025 to advocate for grid modernization. Founding members include Meta, Google, Microsoft, Siemens Energy, and Hitachi Energy.
The European Commission estimates that modernizing Europe’s power grids will require approximately €1.2 trillion in investment by 2040. Data center power demand in Europe is projected to nearly double by 2030, reaching 36 gigawatts, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence 451 Research.
AWS does not disclose the exact number of data centers it operates in Europe but maintains infrastructure in more than 20 countries. The company is expanding investments in France, Germany, and Spain. It has announced €15.7 billion in investments in Spain through 2033 and €7.8 billion in Germany through 2040 for its European Sovereign Cloud.
“We’re finding more and more across Europe that certainty of the delivery date has continued to be delayed,” MacDougall said.
