Data centres hide energy and water data as Dutch grid pressure grows, study finds

The researchers spent a year chasing that data across Europe. They invoked freedom of information laws in several countries. The study's conclusion: the vast majority of European data centres keep their environmental impact secret.

In the Netherlands, the numbers are stark. The Dutch Datacenter Association counted 186 commercial data centres with a capacity of 500 kW or more in the country at the end of last year. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency, known as RVO, collects the information for the EU, and it has data on only 104 of them. The agency holds public figures on the electricity usage of 44 centres and the water usage of 47. That is less than a quarter of the larger Dutch facilities. RVO told Trouw it has more data on some centres but did not provide the figures.

The legal obligation exists. The European Energy Efficiency Directive requires data centres with an installed capacity of at least 500 kW to report energy and water consumption. It has been in effect for three years. In practice, few comply.

Why the missing numbers matter

Data centres have multiplied with the rise of cloud services and then AI applications. So has the electricity they draw and the drinking water used to cool thousands of servers. The study, run by Lighthouse Report with Trouw and other European media, found that attempts to obtain the data through freedom of information requests in various countries yielded no results.

Statistics Netherlands (CBS) puts Dutch data centre electricity use at 5.1 billion kilowatt-hours in 2024. That is 4.6 percent of the country's total electricity consumption, and it has nearly doubled in five years. Grid operator TenneT projects that data centres will consume 10 to 15 percent of the Netherlands' electricity by 2030.

That projection lands on a grid already short of capacity. Businesses, institutions and housing developments sit on waiting lists for connections, according to NL Times. The same article notes that RVO data revealed this summer that Microsoft's largest data centre in the Netherlands alone accounts for 1 percent of national electricity consumption. Google, which runs two large data centres in the country, does not disclose this information.

Water use is even murkier. In the Netherlands, data centres are estimated to account for about 0.1 percent of total consumption. That is a small share, but the study's authors point to climate change making conservative water usage more critical as droughts and water shortages lengthen.

A global trend with local gaps

The Dutch findings echo a broader pattern rather than an isolated case. The study covered Europe as a whole, and the researchers' year-long effort under freedom of information laws produced no usable data from the sector. The European Energy Efficiency Directive was supposed to change that. Three years in, it has not.

What RVO does hold is partial. It has electricity figures for 44 centres and water figures for 47. On the rest, the agency told Trouw it has more information but declined to share it. The Dutch Datacenter Association's own count of 186 large commercial facilities shows how far the public record falls short of the actual footprint.

This matters for grid planning as much as for environmental accounting. TenneT's 2030 projection of 10 to 15 percent of national electricity consumption assumes growth from a base that is only partly measured. If the unmeasured centres grow at the same pace as the measured ones, the projection could undershoot.

It also matters for public trust. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency collects the data on behalf of the EU. When less than a quarter of the required facilities report, the agency's statistics describe a minority of the sector, not the sector itself.

Electrification targets and the supply side

The data centre disclosure gap sits inside a larger electrification push. The International Energy Agency now projects 33 percent global electrification by 2035, up from 23 percent today, according to OilPrice.com. That increase is driven largely by the energy price crisis tied to the conflict involving the United States and Israel in Iran, the outlet reported on 24 September.

Negotiators at COP31, scheduled for Antalya in Türkiye from 9 to 20 November 2026, will push a formal "35 by '35" pledge tied to the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C pathway, per OilPrice.com. The same report cites IEA estimates that faster electrification could save the world more than $400 billion in fossil fuel imports by 2035.

Those savings depend on grids that can carry the load. In the Netherlands, the disclosure gap means planners are working with partial data on one of the fastest-growing sources of demand. The European Energy Efficiency Directive was designed to close that gap. The study published on 30 September suggests it has not.

Money is moving, data is not

Investment in grid and energy infrastructure continues regardless. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump was expected to unveil roughly $200 billion in South Korean investments in the United States, including about $54 billion tied to the long-delayed Alaska LNG project, according to Bloomberg News as reported by Seeking Alpha. Shipbuilding, energy infrastructure such as LNG and power plants, and nuclear energy are targeted for substantial funding. The investments may advance large projects that have stalled on financing and negotiation hurdles.

That package is about supply and industrial capacity. It does not address the measurement problem the Dutch study describes. Nor does the FTC's new investigation into AI labs, which touches data centre demand only indirectly.

On 30 September, the Guardian reported that the US Federal Trade Commission is conducting an industry-wide investigation into Anthropic, OpenAI and other AI labs over the potential dangers their technology poses to consumers. The FTC plans to issue formal demands for information and compel testimony from executives at top AI developers, including Anthropic, OpenAI and the research group Metr, according to multiple reports. The New York Post first reported the news.

The investigation is the first official US enforcement action focused on rogue AI agents, following a surge in incidents first reported in July. The Guardian notes that Andrew Ferguson, the FTC chair, suggested last week that developers who instruct agents in cybersecurity tests that result in hacks should be liable for any harm they cause, and that the US should look to existing laws before passing new ones. Donald Trump met with top AI executives on Tuesday, where the companies agreed to establish voluntary standards, the Guardian reported.

What the Dutch case shows

The Dutch disclosure numbers are not about AI regulation or LNG financing. They are about whether the public can see the resource cost of the infrastructure being built around it. The answer, per the Lighthouse Report study, is mostly no.

Three years after the European Energy Efficiency Directive took effect, RVO holds public electricity figures for 44 of 186 large commercial data centres and water figures for 47. The agency says it has more data but has not released it. The Dutch Datacenter Association's count and RVO's partial records are the best available picture. Microsoft's largest Dutch data centre alone consumes 1 percent of national electricity, according to RVO data revealed this summer. Google does not disclose its figures.

TenneT's projection of 10 to 15 percent of national electricity consumption by 2030 will be built on that partial base. The study's authors spent a year trying to fill the gaps and came away empty. For grid planners, regulators and the public, the numbers that would make the electrification debate concrete remain, for now, private.