In the midst of the Paris AI summit, EDF is placing its pawns. While France is now presenting itself as the Eldorado of data centers, the energy company announces that it plans to host four data centers in the country on its former industrial wastelands.
This is enough to meet the major plan of 109 billion euros of investments for AI, announced by Emmanuel Macron two days earlier, and mainly aimed at these infrastructures that are essential for artificial intelligence (AI) and very power-hungry: an ingredient that EDF has in abundance, particularly thanks to its nuclear capacities.
EDF owns 45,000 hectares in the country
But that is not its only asset: for several months, EDF has been offering cloud giants support offers so that they can come and set up in France, as reported by Le Figarolast month. The group confirmed, in its press release published on February 10, that it will offer "personalized support for the end-to-end completion of the steps necessary for the development of the project" of digital companies.
On the one hand, the energy company owns 45,000 hectares in the country, including brownfield sites already connected to the network: enough to save several months of administrative procedures and work for anyone wanting to develop this type of infrastructure.
Six "pre-identified" sites
On the other hand, EDF produces "low-carbon, competitively priced and available at all times" electricity, the company claims. An undeniable advantage when you consider that Ireland, which has so far been the preferred land of digital giants due to its tax advantages, is seeing its electricity network put to the test due to the exponential demand for electricity from data centers.
As a result, the group explains in its press release that it will launch a call for expressions of interest (AMI) by the end of the month to which digital companies will be able to respond. The latter will be able to rent sites from EDF to build data centers there. "The land will be allocated on the basis of objective and transparent criteria, particularly relating to the credibility and maturity of the companies' projects", specifies EDF, which will remain the owner of the land.
According to the press release, "four industrial sites" have been "pre-identified" "on its own land". Two additional sites would be selected "by 2026", the company specifies.
A minimum of four years to commission a data center?
We do not know exactly where these are located in the Grand-Est, Île-de-France and Rhône-Alpes regions. These are among the 35 "turnkey" sites proposed by Paris to host AI data centers. The sites identified by EDF already have a capacity of 2GW: a major asset that would make it possible to "reduce by several years the time needed to complete projects", the company promises. According to RTE, which manages the electricity transmission network, it takes between four and seven years of procedure to commission a data center.
Enough to allow the energy company to find new customers. According to our colleagues at Figaro, the company would no longer know what to do with its electricity. Last year, France never exported so much electricity to its neighbors, with a net balance of 89 terawatt hours (TWh) sold.
0 Comments