Data centers
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.
Fast-growing consumption
Annual electricity consumption of data centers above 1 GWh/year, by consumption bracket.
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| Year | Under 2 GWh | 2 to under 5 GWh | 5 to under 10 GWh | 10 to under 50 GWh | 50 GWh and above | All data centers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 0.1846 | 0.3772 | 0.4316 | 1.765 | 0.5527 | 3.3112 |
| 2019 | 0.1854 | 0.3987 | 0.4581 | 1.7781 | 0.661 | 3.4813 |
| 2020 | 0.185 | 0.4035 | 0.4688 | 1.6237 | 0.8501 | 3.531 |
| 2021 | 0.1928 | 0.3932 | 0.4772 | 1.6518 | 1.0355 | 3.7505 |
| 2022 | 0.2044 | 0.3986 | 0.502 | 1.6752 | 1.1301 | 3.9104 |
| 2023 | 0.212 | 0.4156 | 0.538 | 1.671 | 1.2155 | 4.0522 |
| 2024 | 0.2096 | 0.3975 | 0.555 | 1.7694 | 1.408 | 4.3394 |
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
| Number of data centers | Cumulative consumption (TWh) |
|---|---|
| 0 | 0 |
| 10 | 0.0023 |
| 20 | 0.0087 |
| 30 | 0.0169 |
| 40 | 0.0262 |
| 50 | 0.0364 |
| 60 | 0.0472 |
| 70 | 0.0586 |
| 80 | 0.0705 |
| 90 | 0.0826 |
| 100 | 0.0951 |
| 110 | 0.1086 |
| 120 | 0.1228 |
| 130 | 0.1382 |
| 140 | 0.1543 |
| 150 | 0.1718 |
| 160 | 0.1902 |
| 170 | 0.2096 |
| 180 | 0.2303 |
| 190 | 0.2523 |
| 200 | 0.276 |
| 210 | 0.3014 |
| 220 | 0.3289 |
| 230 | 0.358 |
| 240 | 0.3885 |
| 250 | 0.4217 |
| 260 | 0.4581 |
| 270 | 0.4972 |
| 280 | 0.5396 |
| 290 | 0.5859 |
| 300 | 0.6352 |
| 310 | 0.687 |
| 320 | 0.7439 |
| 330 | 0.8038 |
| 340 | 0.8671 |
| 350 | 0.9356 |
| 360 | 1.0098 |
| 370 | 1.0939 |
| 380 | 1.1911 |
| 390 | 1.3026 |
| 400 | 1.4371 |
| 410 | 1.5926 |
| 420 | 1.7702 |
| 430 | 1.9935 |
| 440 | 2.2527 |
| 450 | 2.5926 |
| 460 | 3.0447 |
| 471 | 4.3483 |
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
| Year | Under 2 GWh | 2 to under 5 GWh | 5 to under 10 GWh | 10 to under 50 GWh | 50 GWh and above | All data centers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 1.13 | 1.73 | 1.98 | 2.49 | 2.45 | 2.16 |
| 2019 | 1.24 | 1.73 | 1.99 | 2.56 | 2.67 | 2.24 |
| 2020 | 1.14 | 1.84 | 2.01 | 2.43 | 3.23 | 2.28 |
| 2021 | 1.22 | 1.73 | 2.07 | 2.33 | 3.68 | 2.33 |
| 2022 | 0.97 | 2.04 | 2.28 | 2.27 | 4.02 | 2.38 |
| 2023 | 1.13 | 1.7 | 2.13 | 2.35 | 4.17 | 2.4 |
| 2024 | 1.25 | 1.95 | 2.12 | 2.33 | 4.79 | 2.58 |
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
| Bracket | Number of departments |
|---|---|
| Under 2 GWh | 53 |
| 2 to under 10 GWh | 13 |
| 10 to under 100 GWh | 18 |
| 100 to under 300 GWh | 8 |
| 300 GWh and above | 4 |
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.
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