Europe’s Energy Equation: Lower Prices from Renewables Come with Higher Risks for Data Centres (Copy)
Lower prices from renewable energy come with higher risks , but that can be mitigated with planning.
Image: WichienTep.
Across Europe, energy prices are falling – and at first glance, that looks like good news for the data centre industry. But there’s a hidden cost: resilience.
In countries like Germany and Denmark, cheap wholesale power is increasingly driven by renewables. Low-cost wind and solar generation have displaced fossil fuels on the merit-order curve, pushing average prices down. A recent Nature Energy study suggests wholesale power costs across Europe could drop by 26% by 2030 due to renewables growth.
For data centres, that’s a strong cost signal. Denmark now enjoys industrial power rates nearly 50% below the EU average thanks to its wind-driven grid. But the surplus and volatility behind these cheap numbers carry serious implications.
Curtailement – the dumping of excess wind or solar due to grid limits – is rising. In Northern Ireland, renewables curtailment doubled to 16.9% in 2024 . In Great Britain, constraint payments reached over £1 billion in 2024 , and total curtailment costs are forecast to hit £2.5 billion annually by 2030.
Then there’s the Dunkelflaute – periods when both wind and solar drop simultaneously. Without sufficient storage, prolonged low-renewables stretches can leave large-scale assets vulnerable. Meanwhile, peak price spikes still occur during late afternoon and evening hours, underscoring ongoing grid instability .
So yes, lower average prices cut OPEX. But without planning for volatility, curtailment, and gaps, data centres risk being caught unprepared.
Smart developers are responding by:
→ Locking in flexible PPAs and on-site storage solutions
→ Designing phased builds aligned with grid updates
→ Including battery and hybrid backup systems early in design
At PGP, we build for scale and resilience. We ensure every project is designed not just for price, but for power continuity – even in a grid that’s getting greener, but more unpredictable. Let’s discuss how to embed power resilience into your next build – cost-efficient, reliable, future-proof.
