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As Europe strives to position itself at the forefront of the global digital economy, data centres are emerging as the backbone of competitiveness and innovation, enabling digitalisation, artificial intelligence, cloud services, and the broader digital transition. This presents challenges due to rising energy consumption, which will need the development of large-scale renewable capacity to replace fossil fuels, alongside other substantial investments in grid infrastructure.

As part of these efforts, the European Commission is set to publish early 2026 its Strategic Roadmap for digitalisation and artificial intelligence in the energy sector which will aim at accelerating the deployment of digital tools (including AI technologies) across key decarbonisation sectors, such as power-grid optimisation, energy efficiency, and demand-side flexibility.

Panel 1: Powering the intelligence – How to integrate data centres in the EU energy system

Data centres are highly resource-intensive, consuming large amounts of electricity and requiring considerable grid hosting capacity. Europe faces the challenge of finding ways to balance the future backbone of the digital economy with its sustainability and decarbonisation goals.

The publication of the Heating and Cooling Strategy in the first quarter of 2026 will support the decarbonisation efforts in the sector by improving its efficiency and system integration.

In addition, the revision of the Energy Efficency Directive will promote a new rating scheme for data centres and foster their integration into the energy system.

This panel aims to explore both current and future solutions for the sustainable integration of data centres into the European energy system. Questions to be discussed include:
• What are the existing solutions to harness data centres’ energy intensive profile and make them fit for a decarbonising energy system?
• Data centres are expected to boom in many geographies around the continent. Is Europe ready to face this challenge? •How can the new EU legislative framework underpin this process without jeopardising the climate goal?

Panel 2: AI – What’s in for the energy sector?

Despite their energy intensive profiles, data centres and AI applications can substantially support the clean transition of the energy sector by boosting renewables efficiency, enhancing grid stability and fostering automatisation. The upcoming Strategic Roadmap for digitalisation and artificial intelligence in the energy sector will address such opportunities and the further arising challenges of AI integration in the energy sector.

This panel will explore how AI will integrate, benefit or challenge our energy systems. Questions to be discussed include:
• What AI applications are ready for deployment to support the clean transition of the energy sector?
• How can AI support Europe’s strategic autonomy in the energy sector?
• What role can AI play in reducing the energy cost of resource-intensive infrastructure like data centres themselves?

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