Data Centers

In March this year, the European Commission adopted the Delegated Act on a common rating scheme for data centers (“Delegated Act”) in the European Union (“EU”).  The Delegated Act implements the Energy Efficiency Directive (“EED”) and details the energy key performance indicators (“KPI”) that data center operators must report to the European database on data centers (“European database”), how to calculate them, and to what extent this information will be publicly disclosed. Continue Reading New Sustainability Reporting Requirements for Data Centers in the EU

On August 2, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) issued a notice of a Commissioner-led technical conference this fall to discuss issues related to co-locating large loads, such as data centers, at generating facilities. A supplemental notice will be issued with the date and time of the technical conference, as well as further details regarding the agenda.  As transformative developments in artificial intelligence drive increasing power demand for data centers, the August 2 notice signals that the Commission has begun to contemplate new policies regarding the use of facilities connected to the FERC-regulated transmission grid to meet this demand.  The technical conference will be a significant opportunity for interested parties to highlight various benefits or concerns regarding such arrangements to the Commission.Continue Reading As Interest Grows, FERC Announces Technical Conference Regarding Co-Locating Data Centers

The European Commission is currently holding a public consultation on a Draft Delegated Act (“DDA”) on a common rating scheme on the energy performance of data centers in the European Union and European Economic Area (“EU/EEA”).  The DDA will lay out the energy key performance indicators that operators and owners of data centers must report, the sustainability indicators that will be calculated per data center, and the aggregated data that will be made publicly available, in accordance with the new EU Energy Efficiency Directive (“EED”). 

The adoption of the DDA will introduce specific mandatory environmental and energy performance reporting requirements for data centers for the first time in the EU/EEA, and probably in the world.  These reporting requirements may be the first step for the EU to adopt mandatory environmental performance targets for data centers within the next decade.Continue Reading Upcoming Sustainability Reporting Requirements for Data Centers in the EU