News item | 10-06-2022 | 15:38
The cabinet has approved the draft decision for strict regulation of hyperscale data centers. Minister De Jonge for Housing and Spatial Planning announced in February this year that he wanted to lay down legal criteria to prevent new hyperscale data centers from establishing themselves in undesirable places in the Netherlands. The cabinet sends the draft decision to the Senate and the House of Representatives. The draft decision is open for internet consultation.
Minister De Jonge: “The Netherlands is too small and the scarcity is too great to carelessly use our space or our energy. And so we have to make the right choices. The establishment of hyperscale data centers – which require a lot of space and energy – are therefore strictly regulated and are only possible in a few places.”
Draft decision
The decree provides that municipalities are not allowed to admit new hyperscale data centers in a zoning plan or in an environmental plan. They must adjust their zoning plan or environmental plan accordingly. This unless it concerns an area that is excluded from the ban in the decree.
Exception Areas
Two areas are exempted from the prohibition to allow hyperscale data centers in a zoning plan or environmental plan. In the province of Groningen, these are the part of the municipality of Het Hogeland, formerly the municipality of Eemsmond. In the province of North Holland, these are the locations Agriport A7 and B1 that the municipality of Hollands Kroon intends to allocate for, among other things, the expansion of hyperscale data centers. These areas are located on the edge of the Netherlands, where there is sufficient space. Hyperscale data centers are already located here and due to the location at landfalls for sustainable energy (offshore wind), sufficient green energy is available.
Zeewolde
The decision does not relate to the arrival of a data center in Zeewolde, because the spatial procedures had already started before the preparatory decision and the municipal council had already adopted the zoning plan. At the same time, the arrival of a hyperscale data center in Zeewolde is not a race. The municipality of Zeewolde wants to buy land from the government for the realization of a hyperscale data center. The government has set conditions for this sale. The municipality has established a so-called pre-emptive right on the land.
The municipality of Zeewolde has submitted plans and information for assessment. These have been tested by TNO on the conditions set for minimum energy consumption and maximum sustainability during operation, maximum generation of solar energy on roofs, facades and surrounding areas, use of intelligent cooling solutions and reuse of residual heat. According to this assessment, a number of conditions are met and a number of conditions are not met. Based on the current assessment report, the Central Government Real Estate Agency cannot now sell the land to the municipality. The Minister for Housing and Spatial Planning will discuss the assessment report with the municipality of Zeewolde.