Insights
EnEfG: waste heat and water in numbers
PUE 1.2, staged waste heat use, 100 percent renewables from 2027. And why water is not the bottleneck in practice.
1 min read
EnEfGWaste heatWater
Power, land, permits.
GDI develops sites for large data centres in Germany to shovel-ready: grid connection, land, permits, energy, heat and fibre. We do not build or operate ourselves and hand the site over to the operator that fits it.
Starting point
Compute belongs where the power is generated, not where the grid is full.
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In the metros, grid connection is the obstacle.
Frankfurt is not granting large new connections until the mid-2030s, Berlin and Hamburg are rationing. Germany has around 3 GW of data centre capacity; the federal target is 5 GW by 2030. Sources: Mainova, March 2026; Bitkom, federal data centre strategy, 18 March 2026.
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Power density per rack is rising to 1 MW.
AI rack power density is rising from 130 kW to 1 MW. A hall of 10,000 m2 will then hold 100 to 150 MW; sites have to be planned for this scale. Source: Nvidia roadmap 2026; EnEfG.
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Land designation decides on grid connection.
The draft grid package makes designation in regional and land-use plans a prioritisation criterion for connection requests. Source: BMWE, draft grid package, February 2026.
What we deliver
Grid connection
We run the application in the transmission system operators' Reifegradverfahren (TSO maturity-level procedure): technical connection concept, land security, proof of financing, flexibility offer.
Result: a documented 380 kV connection path.
Land and permits
We secure contiguous land at transmission nodes via options and run the process for a Sondergebiet Rechenzentrum (special-use zoning for data centres) together with municipality, district and state politics.
Result: building rights.
Energy and heat
We combine direct supply from wind and solar, storage at the connection point and waste heat use under the Energy Efficiency Act (EnEfG).
Result: an energy and heat concept that operators and grid operators accept.
Fibre
We review the routes and the connection to the carriers' backbone nodes.
Result: a documented, redundant fibre path to the site.
Our role
GDI works independently of operators, grid operators and landowners. The company develops the pre-stage of a data centre site, from grid connection through land and permits to the energy and heat concept, and hands over at shovel-ready. The shareholders come from the German energy industry and from the international capital market.
Roles in site development | Broker | Developer with own balance sheet | Utility | GDI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct access to operators and investors | no | partly | no | Yes |
| Does not build, no conflict of interest | yes, without substance | no, own portfolio | no, own grid area | Yes |
| Depth in the German energy market | no | partly | yes | Yes |
| Develops the pre-stage (grid, land, permits, energy) | no | for itself | no | Yes |
| Several operators on one site | no | no | no | Yes |
Key figures
- 3 GW
- Data centre capacity in Germany in 2026, federal target 5 GW by 2030.
- Source: Bitkom, federal data centre strategy, 18 March 2026.
- Mid 2030s
- Earliest date for new large grid connections around Frankfurt.
- Source: Mainova, March 2026.
- 3.1 bn EUR
- Cost of congestion management in the German grid in 2025.
- Source: Bundesnetzagentur.
- Doubling by 2030
- Federal government target for data centre capacity in Germany.
- More on municipalities and the state
For municipalities and the state
What a campus means for a municipality: jobs in construction and operation, local investment, training of skilled workers, trade tax, waste heat for the region. And what we need from municipality, district and state.
- More on operators and investors
For operators and investors
What a GDI site includes at handover, the stages on the way there, and why Northern Germany.
Insights
- Insights1 MW per rack: what it means for land
AI rack power density is rising from 130 kW to 1 MW. Three consequences for land requirements, auxiliary areas and waste heat.
1 min read
LandTechnologyWaste heat - InsightsGrid package 2026: zoning now decides grid priority
The draft bill makes designation in regional and land-use plans a prioritisation criterion. State planning becomes grid-relevant.
1 min read
Grid packageState planningZoning
Contact
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