Data centres, boom of projects in Italy: 342 requests for network connection

È boom di progetti sui data center in Italia grazie alla spinta assicurata dal cloud computing, che consente di elaborare e archiviare dati in rete su hardware da remoto senza bisogno di piattaforme di grandi dimensioni, e dalle applicazioni basate sull’intelligenza artificiale. Secondo la fotografia registrata da Terna, a oggi l’asticella complessiva segna 55 gigawatt per un totale di 342 istanze: un dato decisamente più alto rispetto a quello registrato lo scorso anno (quando il contatore si era fermato a 31,2 GW) e soprattutto molto lontano dai numeri fatti segnare tra 2019 e 2021 quando le richieste avevano raggiunto a stento il gigawatt per poi superare i 5 GW nel 2023. Un forte aumento, dunque, negli ultimi due anni e che vede la fetta principale di richieste concentrata nel Nord Italia. A far la parte del leone è la Lombardia, che da sola registra 210 domande per 30,2 gigawatt, il grosso delle quali localizzato su Milano, seguita dal Piemonte, con 43 pratiche (9,8 GW), dal Lazio (27 istanze per

This is a figure that continues to grow at a whirling pace: in March, as this newspaper had also reported, requests amounted to 40 GW. In just five months, therefore, requests have increased by 15 GW. This is a sign that the Italian electricity grid managed by the group led by Giuseppina Di Foggia represents a reliable and solid landing place for the sector for the realisation of projects, especially from real estate and telecommunications operators that already manage this type of asset. The 'weight' of which on the grid is currently modest, but is destined to increase also because the demand for large data centres is growing, whose consumption at full capacity is comparable to that of a large city (see also the factsheet on the page).

It is no coincidence that Terna has estimated the incidence of data centres on overall demand in the 2025 development plan now at the centre of the public consultation. In that document, the group reiterates, in fact, on the one hand, the strong development that will affect, as mentioned, large and complex data centres - i.e. those with the highest consumption as mentioned - due to the technological innovations underway, and, on the other, it estimates that data centre consumption in 2030 will be equal to 11 terawatt hours, equivalent to 3% of national demand and that it will be located mainly in the north of the country. A significant share, therefore, which, Terna writes, "is in line with current projections of other European countries (with the exception of Ireland) and is considered likely also by trade associations.

In the face of this boom in applications - with 30 GW of requests already granted - there now remains the authorisation node to be resolved, with operators calling for a streamlining of procedures, especially where projects to build new data centres go hand in hand with the construction of energy production plants to power them.

On the political front, the government is already working on a solution, and the hypothesis under consideration - which should arrive on the table at Palazzo Chigi with one of the first useful legislative vehicles - is that of a single procedure for issuing authorisations for the construction and expansion of infrastructures, as is also the case in the rest of Europe. The Minister for the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, is pushing for a solution of this type, and has instructed his technicians to prepare a regulatory solution capable of accelerating the development of data centres, essential hubs for the country's digital transition. The recipe identified would be that of a dual track, with the Region responsible for issuing the required authorisation in the case of plants with power up to 300 MW, while above this threshold the responsibility would be in the hands of the Ministry.