German data centres demand power-price rebates to remain competitive

The German government isn’t doing enough to support the country’s digital infrastructure, data-centre operators told Inga Janovic in an article for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. While their competitors in Scandinavia are exempt from electricity tax, German politicians have not agreed to such rebates, or exemptions from the renewable energy surcharge. The data sector argues that power consumption makes up a very high share of its running costs, as it does for the energy-intensive industries that are (partially) exempt from the renewables levy. The state government in Hesse, where many data centres are concentrated around the city of Frankfurt, argues that digital companies should invest in energy efficiency and that high growth rates in the sector shows that firms are doing well under current conditions. But Bela Waldhauser, managing director of Telehouse Germany says that growth rates in other countries are even higher. Since 2017, Germany’s digital infrastructure sector has been losing market share, Janovic reports.