Milan might add 2 GW of information centre capability inside 5 years, in accordance with the chief govt of vitality firm A2A, who says high-voltage connections and new technology will hold the grid on monitor whereas waste warmth is harnessed for metropolis properties.
Lombardy, which is the area that homes Milan, has over 60 information centres lively or within the means of being authorised. In Milan, current investments embrace Banco Desio’s €4.5 million funding for a 100 MW information centre south of Milan and Retelit’s €350 million plan for 3 websites between Milan and Rome. Now, the chief govt of the most important utility in Lombardy, A2A, has claimed that the nation’s monetary capital Milan goes so as to add 2 GW of information centre capability over the following 5 years.
This development could be a tenfold enlargement on present ranges. The province of Milan at the moment hosts about 200 MW of put in information centre capability, whereas town’s peak electrical energy demand at the moment stands at 1.5 GW. A2A CEO Renato Mazzoncini was talking at an occasion in Milan, covered by Reuters, as was seemingly sanguine concerning the grid’s capability to soak up such a fast enlargement.
He reckons the brand new services will probably be linked to Italy’s high-voltage grid or on to energy crops, avoiding pressure on the native distribution community managed by A2A. He added that the vitality firm already had greater than 3 gigawatts of further thermoelectric energy both constructed, underneath building or authorised within the area.
Mazzoncini additionally didn’t view Italy’s increased vitality costs as an obstacle to such growth. “The price of electrical energy is converging throughout Europe. A photo voltaic panel or wind turbine produces on the similar value in Spain, Italy or Eire. That’s the place the world is heading,” he informed Reuters. He additionally stated that operators also can safe energy by buy agreements with utilities.
Talking at an investor day on 13 October, Mazzoncini stated in August 2025 there have been 342 requests for connection of high-voltage information facilities to Italy’s grid (Terna). In February-August 2025 requests for higher than 15 GW have been 60% increased than these submitted in 2019-2023. For 2025 there was a complete 55 GW high-voltage connection requests to Terna with 55% coming from Lombardy.
Apparently he stated at the moment the high-voltage connection instances estimated by Terna are operating at 3 years at the least. The nominal vitality capability of information centres in Italy might develop as much as virtually 4.6 GW if it reaches A2A’s “full potential” state of affairs with an influence on nationwide electrical energy consumption as much as 13% in 2035. A2A’s development state of affairs would in any other case hit 2.3 GW by 2035.
Mazzoncini is bullish concerning the prospects for thermal restoration too. He reckons within the full potential state of affairs, there could be a most of 9.5 TWh of thermal vitality recoverable from put in DCs. This might meet the thermal wants of as much as 800k households , of which ~530k could be in Milan.
Harnessing warmth in Brescia
In June 2025, A2A inaugurated Italy’s first liquid-cooled information centre linked on to a district heating community, situated at its Lamarmora plant in Brescia. Developed with French agency Qarnot, the ability recovers warmth from high-performance computing operations at as much as 65°C, permitting it to be provided instantly to town’s district heating system. As soon as totally operational, the challenge will ship round 16 GWh of unpolluted warmth yearly – sufficient to heat roughly 1,350 residences – whereas avoiding an estimated 3,500 tonnes of CO2 emissions every year.
Brescia’s community already provides over 180,000 residences, with greater than 80% of its warmth derived from non-fossil sources. A2A’s collaboration with Qarnot marked a big step in integrating information centre waste warmth into this technique. The challenge illustrated how city areas with established district heating can seize residual warmth from digital infrastructure to decarbonise heating, scale back reliance on gasoline, and improve native vitality resilience.
On the time, Mazzoncini stated Brescia’s mannequin might be replicated in different cities, together with Milan, the place waste warmth from upcoming information centre developments might provide thermal vitality to greater than 150,000 properties.
This text initially appeared on Mobile Europe.
