France data center weekly: week of 2 November 2026

Every week, what moved for data center projects in France, and what it changes for a developer, investor, landowner or local authority. Sourced facts only.

1. BERCY: THE INDUSTRY RESPONDS TO PROTESTS

On 9 November, French data centre players met at the Ministry of the Economy with Anne Le Hénanff, minister for AI and digital affairs. France Datacenter presented the second edition of its barometer: 370 data centres in France, the fifth most in the world, and 900 MW of installed capacity in 2025. The industry's stated aim is to make France "the first destination" in Europe. The meeting followed a weekend of protests in several European countries, including France, with calls for a moratorium. Facing criticism on water, energy, noise and PFAS, the industry highlighted closed-loop cooling and France's power mix, and called for more "education".

What it changes: education will not be enough. Residents and local officials expect verifiable commitments, site by site: water used including during heat peaks, measured noise, heat reuse. Closed-loop cooling uses very little water, but generally more electricity. See water, noise, heat: local acceptance.

2. EU RATING: THE A–G SCORE ARRIVES IN 2027

According to DCMag (6 November), the EU energy rating for data centres was adopted by delegated regulation on 21 September 2026. It will cover sites of 500 kW IT and above, with first ratings expected by 15 August 2027. On the reported thresholds, class A would require a PUE of 1.15 or less and a WUE of 0.1 or less; class G would start above 1.9 and 1.0.

What it changes: today's design sets tomorrow's rating, and so an asset's exit value. See PUE, WUE, ERF reporting.

3. NORWAY: STATNETT PAUSES DATA CENTRE RESERVATIONS

On 9 November, Norway's grid operator suspended new capacity reservations for data centres, until 1 August 2027 at the latest. According to a TDCS market note, connected, reserved, queued and exploratory requests total more than 32 GW, above national peak demand. Denmark froze new connections in May.

What it changes: across Europe, requested capacity and deliverable capacity are becoming two different assets. See our analysis.

4. "TIME TO CONNECT": THE INDUSTRY SPEAKS WITH ONE VOICE

In its October issue on data centres, J3e interviews Hitachi Energy, Vertiv, ABB and Schneider Electric. Same finding: the building is no longer the bottleneck, power is. "The main challenge is reducing Time to Connect," says Thierry Plouvier, president of Hitachi Energy France. Vertiv mentions connection lead times of more than five years for gigawatt-scale AI factories.

What it changes: an energisation date is checked on the critical path, not in the brochure. See Time to Connect.

5. PREFABRICATION: A REPORT DUE IN NOVEMBER

The minister has asked Gimelec and France Datacenter to report on prefabrication and modular digital infrastructure. Schneider Electric cites a study with Compass Datacenters: factory assembly would cut on-site installation time by 80%.

What it changes: construction gets shorter, not the grid connection or the permits.

6. SOFTBANK: A MODULE FACTORY IN DUNKIRK

SoftBank Group announces up to 5 GW and €75 billion in France, including 3.1 GW and €45 billion in Hauts-de-France by 2031. Schneider Electric plans a factory for prefabricated power modules at the port of Dunkirk.

What it changes: announced gigawatts are not connected gigawatts. See power claim verification.

7. WASTE HEAT: ROUBAIX CONNECTS OVHCLOUD TO THE HEAT NETWORK

The Lille metropolitan authority approved connecting OVHcloud's data centres to the heat network run by R Énergies (Dalkia), capturing about 70% of server heat.

What it changes: a concrete example of heat reuse, as the 0.20 ERF threshold applies above 1 MW.

8. WATER: DATA4 CHALLENGES WUE AS THE ONLY METRIC

According to Data4, in France 57% of an operating data centre's water footprint would come from producing its electricity, not from cooling.

What it changes: this is an operator's position; it deserves to be tested against independent analysis, at a time when water is at the heart of the protests.

9. VÉLIZY: NATION DATA CENTER LAUNCHES A 7 MW IT URBAN SITE

Nation Data Center, an Altarea subsidiary, is building a data centre in Vélizy-Villacoublay (west of Paris) with 2,268 m² of data halls, 7 MW IT and 1,152 racks, with SPIE Building Solutions leading the contractor group. The site targets a PUE of 1.2, supports up to 140 kW per rack with direct liquid cooling and will supply its heat to the local network. Works started in May 2026, delivery announced for end 2027.

What it changes: a short schedule depends on the substation connection date and commissioning; heat reuse is built in from the design.

AGENDA

Sources: Le Figaro and La Tribune, 9 November 2026 (Bercy meeting and France Datacenter barometer); DCMag, 6 November 2026 (EU rating); Statnett announcement of 9 November 2026 as reported by Bloomberg, and TDCS market note; J3e no. 929, October 2026; Selectra, 21 October 2026; SPIE release via DCMag, 5 November 2026. Operator positions are presented as such.

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