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Electrify Europe
Data 2018 → 2024

Data centers: electricity consumption in France

Electricity consumption of data centers in France: an emerging use, growing fast and increasingly concentrated on the largest sites.

Metropolitan France, data centers consuming more than 1 GWh/year (counted by electricity delivery point; a data center may have several delivery points, and a delivery point may serve several buildings). Data centers consuming less than 1 GWh/year are not covered.

Source: SDES, Données locales de l'électricité ; ©Ademe-baseOPERAT. Traitement SDES

Total consumption, 2024
4.3 TWh
+31% since 2018
Share of the largest centers (50 GWh and above)
32.4 %
vs 16.7 % in 2018, increasing concentration
Departments “300 GWh and above”
4
across 96 departments covered, 2024

Fast-growing consumption

Annual electricity consumption of data centers above 1 GWh/year, by consumption bracket.

View data
Electricity consumption of data centers by bracket, 2018-2024: total went from 3.31 TWh to 4.34 TWh.
YearUnder 2 GWh2 to under 5 GWh5 to under 10 GWh10 to under 50 GWh50 GWh and aboveAll data centers
20180.180.380.431.770.553.31
20190.190.40.461.780.663.48
20200.190.40.471.620.853.53
20210.190.390.481.651.043.75
20220.20.40.51.681.133.91
20230.210.420.541.671.224.05
20240.210.40.561.771.414.34

Source: SDES, Données locales de l'électricité ; ©Ademe-baseOPERAT. Traitement SDES. Metropolitan France, data centers consuming more than 1 GWh/year (counted by electricity delivery point; a data center may have several delivery points, and a delivery point may serve several buildings). Data centers consuming less than 1 GWh/year are not covered.

Consumption highly concentrated in a few sites

In 2024, a few hundred of the largest data centers account for a large share of total consumption.

View data
Cumulative electricity consumption of data centers ranked by increasing consumption, 2024: the 471 data centers in scope total 4.35 TWh. The curve is strongly concentrated on the last, largest centers.
Number of data centersCumulative consumption (TWh)
00
100
200.01
300.02
400.03
500.04
600.05
700.06
800.07
900.08
1000.1
1100.11
1200.12
1300.14
1400.15
1500.17
1600.19
1700.21
1800.23
1900.25
2000.28
2100.3
2200.33
2300.36
2400.39
2500.42
2600.46
2700.5
2800.54
2900.59
3000.64
3100.69
3200.74
3300.8
3400.87
3500.94
3601.01
3701.09
3801.19
3901.3
4001.44
4101.59
4201.77
4301.99
4402.25
4502.59
4603.04
4714.35

Source: SDES, Données locales de l'électricité ; ©Ademe-baseOPERAT. Traitement SDES. Metropolitan France, data centers consuming more than 1 GWh/year (counted by electricity delivery point; a data center may have several delivery points, and a delivery point may serve several buildings). Data centers consuming less than 1 GWh/year are not covered.

Rising power intensity for the largest centers

Electricity consumption per m² of server room floor area (MWh/m²). An indicator of compute density, rising sharply for the highest-consuming brackets.

View data
Electricity consumption intensity per m² of server room, 2018-2024, by bracket. Largest-centers bracket (50 GWh and above): 2.45 MWh/m² in 2018, 4.79 MWh/m² in 2024.
YearUnder 2 GWh2 to under 5 GWh5 to under 10 GWh10 to under 50 GWh50 GWh and aboveAll data centers
20181.131.731.982.492.452.16
20191.241.731.992.562.672.24
20201.141.842.012.433.232.28
20211.221.732.072.333.682.33
20220.972.042.282.274.022.38
20231.131.72.132.354.172.4
20241.251.952.122.334.792.58

Source: SDES, Données locales de l'électricité ; ©Ademe-baseOPERAT. Traitement SDES. Metropolitan France, data centers consuming more than 1 GWh/year (counted by electricity delivery point; a data center may have several delivery points, and a delivery point may serve several buildings). Data centers consuming less than 1 GWh/year are not covered.

A geography concentrated in Île-de-France and the North

Number of departments by data center consumption bracket, 2024.

View data
Number of departments by data center consumption bracket, 2024: Under 2 GWh, 53 departments, 2 to under 10 GWh, 13 departments, 10 to under 100 GWh, 18 departments, 100 to under 300 GWh, 8 departments, 300 GWh and above, 4 departments. Departments in the "300 GWh and above" bracket: Nord, Essonne, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis.
BracketNumber of departments
Under 2 GWh53
2 to under 10 GWh13
10 to under 100 GWh18
100 to under 300 GWh8
300 GWh and above4

Map: metropolitan France; non-metropolitan territories, where the source covers them, are listed in the “View data” table. Boundaries © france-geojson (IGN/OSM, ODbL).

Departments in the "300 GWh and above" bracket: Nord, Essonne, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis.

Source: SDES, Données locales de l'électricité ; ©Ademe-baseOPERAT. Traitement SDES. Metropolitan France, data centers consuming more than 1 GWh/year (counted by electricity delivery point; a data center may have several delivery points, and a delivery point may serve several buildings). Data centers consuming less than 1 GWh/year are not covered.

Sources and methodology

Consommation d'électricité des centres de données, SDES (Service des données et études statistiques). License: Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. Reference year: 2024.

Metropolitan France, data centers consuming more than 1 GWh/year (counted by electricity delivery point; a data center may have several delivery points, and a delivery point may serve several buildings). Data centers consuming less than 1 GWh/year are not covered.

Manually updated annually: the SDES dataset is provided for each edition (no public API for this data).

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