Greece has proposed a new electricity legislation that will require new data centers to source at least 60% of annual electricity consumption from renewables
Investors would cover project-specific connection and reinforcement costs and provide a €200,000/MW bank guarantee
The draft also proposes quarterly publication of available grid capacity and flexible connections
Greece wants new data centers to meet at least 60% of their annual electricity demand with renewable energy under draft rules aimed at improving electricity market design.
The Ministry of Environment and Energy proposes that data center investors reserve grid capacity only when their projects demonstrate sufficient financial backing and investment readiness. Investors will be required to cover grid connection and related grid reinforcement costs.
It also proposes a bank guarantee of €200,000 per MW of planned capacity to discourage applications from projects that are not sufficiently advanced but reserve available grid capacity.
Data center investors would be subject to financial capacity checks, including turnover criteria for projects connecting to the transmission system operated by the Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO). Stricter investment and environmental maturity criteria would also apply when granting final grid connection offers.
A data center registry is planned to be created by Regulatory Authority for Waste, Energy and Water (RAAEY) to track the sector’s development and improve transparency.
Beyond data centers, the draft legislation proposes changes to electricity grid connections. Distribution and transmission system operators would publish information every three months on available connection capacity by region, while connection applications would be submitted digitally.
The proposal also introduces flexible grid connection agreements in areas where sufficient capacity for firm connections is unavailable. Under these arrangements, grid operators could limit the electricity a facility feeds into or draws from the network within agreed limits.
The draft legislation also proposes establishing a €2.3 billion Island Decarbonization Fund to finance projects aimed at reducing the Greek islands’ dependence on oil-fired electricity generation. The fund would support renewable energy and storage facilities among other eligible projects.
The ministry said the proposed framework aims to improve the use of available grid capacity, ensure that data center investments are sufficiently advanced and protect electricity consumers from costs associated with project-specific grid infrastructure.
The draft legislation is open for public consultation until October 24, 2026.
Greece’s proposal follows similar efforts in Australia and Spain to link data center grid access with renewable energy use. Spain has proposed stricter rules requiring data centers to match their electricity consumption with renewable generation on an hourly basis (see Spain Pushes For Hourly RE Consumption For Data Centers).
Brazil, on the other hand, wants to link tax benefits for data centers to renewable energy use and other operational commitments (see Brazil Senate Ties Data Center Tax Breaks To Renewables).
Massachusetts in the US requires new data centers with over 25 MW peak electricity demand to procure sufficient new clean electricity generation to meet their annual demand or pay into a fund that helps offset costs for ratepayers (see Massachusetts Sets Clean Energy Rules For Data Centers).
