Summary
- DC Blueprint records 482 projects across 24 European countries.
- Of these, 274 remain announced or in planning, while 208 have reached permission or later stages.
- The figures count developments, not the total electricity capacity contracted, under construction, or operating.
A European data centre development tracker now records 482 projects across 24 countries, with 274 still announced or in planning and 208 having reached permission or a more advanced stage of development.
The figures come from DC Blueprint, which updated its project database on 3 November 2026 following further additions and checks of development milestones.
The dataset counts individual projects rather than combining their stated computing capacity into a single regional megawatt figure. That distinction is important because announced facilities differ substantially in scale, electricity requirements, planning status, and construction progress.
Of the 482 recorded projects, 152 are classified as announced and 122 as being in planning. A further 88 have received permission, six have appointed a contractor, 105 are under construction, and nine have reached structure completion.
Combining the permitted and more advanced categories produces 208 projects, equivalent to approximately 43% of the tracker. However, only 114 are specifically classified as under construction or having reached structure completion.
The distinction prevents projects with planning consent from being treated as facilities already being built. Permission can establish a legal route towards development without confirming that financing, electricity connections, or construction contracts are fully secured.
The United Kingdom accounts for the largest number of recorded projects, with 75. Germany follows with 58, Italy with 53, Spain with 52, and France with 51.
Finland has 41 recorded developments, while the Netherlands, Ireland, and Norway account for 24, 21, and 20 respectively.
The distribution illustrates the geographical breadth of development activity, although project counts do not establish which country has the largest quantity of potential computing capacity.
A single hyperscale campus can contain several large buildings and require substantially more electricity than multiple regional facilities. Counting every project once therefore provides a measure of development activity rather than a direct comparison of capacity.
The tracker deliberately avoids adding together power figures recorded on different bases. Some developers state IT load, while others provide total facility consumption, campus capacity, or electricity connection requirements.
IT load describes electricity used by computing equipment. Total facility power includes additional requirements for cooling, electrical distribution, and supporting infrastructure.
Grid connection capacity introduces another distinction because the maximum amount of electricity available through a connection does not necessarily equal the facility’s continuous operating demand.
Without consistent definitions, adding those figures would produce an aggregate that combined different engineering measurements.
Development stages require similar care. A project can be announced before a developer has secured sufficient land, completed environmental assessment, obtained planning permission, or confirmed electricity infrastructure.
Even after permission is granted, construction may depend on conditions attached to consent, investment decisions, utility agreements, and the availability of equipment and contractors.
Facilities already under construction have progressed further, but later phases of a large campus may still depend on separate infrastructure works and commercial commitments.
The tracker records these stages individually rather than treating a development’s full stated capacity as an immediate addition to the operating market.
Its coverage has also expanded since the database launched on 10 October. DC Blueprint reports adding 161 projects and recording 18 milestone updates, including three changes of development stage.
The 3 November update added two projects, one in France and another in Poland.
Growth in the database does not necessarily correspond to the same number of newly announced developments. A project added this week may have entered planning months earlier but only recently been identified or verified by the tracker.
The distinction between changes in recorded coverage and changes in the underlying market is therefore essential when interpreting successive snapshots.
The database also identifies 47 projects without a publicly recorded development milestone for at least 18 months.
Those projects are not necessarily cancelled, but the absence of documented progress limits the confidence with which they can be included in estimates of near-term construction activity.
DC Blueprint draws on official filings, developer disclosures, and other public information. The tracker identifies different source categories, including records filed with authorities, developer statements, and announced plans.
The evidence supporting individual projects consequently varies. A development appearing in a regulatory filing has a different documentary basis from an early-stage project described only through a developer’s public plans.
Electricity infrastructure remains a central influence on delivery. New facilities may require substations, transmission connections, distribution reinforcement, and agreements governing when the required power becomes available.
Planning consent and electrical availability are separate milestones, meaning progress through one process does not automatically establish readiness for the other.
The November snapshot provides a detailed picture of Europe’s recorded development activity, with a clear distinction between early proposals, permitted projects, and facilities progressing through construction.
Subsequent changes in planning status, construction starts, grid connections, and commissioning will provide stronger evidence of how much of the proposed pipeline becomes operational infrastructure.
