Reporting requirements on the energy performance and sustainability of data centres for the Energy Efficiency Directive - Task A report: Options for a reporting scheme for data centres

Overview

The report opens with the finding that EU data centre energy consumption rose 42% between 2010 and 2018 and is forecast to grow a further 28.2% by 2030, about 3.2% of EU final electricity demand. The study prepares evidence for the delegated act empowered by Article 12 of the recast Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). Proposals rest on stakeholder meetings of 6 December 2022 and 15 June 2023 and written feedback, and each proposal comes with a rationale and an assessment of the alternatives that were rejected.

Scope builds on the Eurostat definition in Regulation (EU) 2022/1323 and the EN 50600 classification: enterprise, colocation and co-hosting data centres. The report also defines "installed IT power demand" as the sum of nominal powers of the IT equipment covered by the PUE calculation; where it changes often or cannot be determined, the rated IT load may be used. The operator reports for enterprise and co-hosting sites. In colocation, the provider declares whole-facility energy while customers supply productivity and function data to the provider.

On the threshold, the study proposes at least 100 kW installed IT power and notes explicitly that this is not in line with the final EED text. It argues from JRC data: in 2017 the EU had 60,215 enterprise, 2,215 colocation and 152 co-hosting data centres, and 96% of data centres are enterprise ones. Combined with 451 Research data, two thirds of sector energy (67 TWh) sits between about 55,000 very small sites outside the threshold and fewer than 800 professional sites inside it. The EURECA project reports average PUE of 4-5 for small sites.

Energy KPIs are tied to EN 50600-4-2: annual total energy (backup generator contribution reported separately), IT energy measured at UPS output with the Category 1 method, the SERT rating for ICT capacity and ISO/IEC 30134-5 (ITEUsv) for utilisation. Ancillary KPIs are annual water input and potable water input (EN 50600-4-9, WUE Category 1), energy reused (EN 50600-4-6) plus waste heat temperature, and renewable energy per EN 50600-4-3, split into GoOs, PPAs and on-site generation. No practical method was found for an overall productivity indicator or an end-user service indicator, so none is proposed.

Data is self-declared; the operator runs quality assessment under its own management procedures and the competent authority may spot-check. SERT data may be unpublished for legacy servers, and GPU/AI accelerators and storage capacity are not yet well covered. Annex A covers PUE, the idle coefficients (SIC pilot values ranged from 50% to over 90%) and the ITEUsv formula; Annex B covers a SPECrate INT 2017 based approach to reporting compute capacity.

Key points

1. The study proposes a 100 kW installed IT power threshold; the final EED text set 500 kW, and the report itself notes the proposal is not in line with the final text.
2. Under a 100 kW threshold about 55,000 very small (mostly enterprise) data centres stay out of scope while fewer than 800 professional (colocation and co-hosting) sites are covered; two thirds of sector energy (67 TWh) sits in those 55,000 sites.
3. JRC data cited: 60,215 enterprise, 2,215 colocation and 152 co-hosting data centres in the EU in 2017; 96% of EU data centres are enterprise.
4. Installed IT power demand is the sum of nominal powers of IT equipment covered by the PUE calculation, not operating power; rated IT load may be used if it changes frequently.
5. In colocation the provider reports whole-facility energy and customers supply productivity and function data; if competition law blocks this, the provider may appoint an independent third party under a non-disclosure agreement.
6. IT energy is measured at UPS output with EN 50600-4-2 Category 1; for sites without a UPS (e.g. DC) the PDU may be used (Category 2) or the measurement point specified.
7. Backup generator energy is reported separately, and sites providing grid services (peak shifting, FFR) report the functions used and, for FFR, average available capacity in MW and the time made available.
8. Water input and potable water input (EN 50600-4-9), energy reused and waste heat temperature (EN 50600-4-6), and renewable energy split by GoO, PPA and on-site generation (EN 50600-4-3) are the ancillary KPIs.
9. Average PUE of 4-5 for small data centres is quoted from the EURECA project.
10. No overall productivity indicator or end-user service indicator is proposed because no practical measurement method was found.

Using it in design

• Add an "in scope of EED Article 12" check that computes installed IT power from nominal IT equipment power and compares it with the final-text 500 kW threshold, not the 100 kW proposed in this report.
• Keep rated IT power and operating IT power as separate fields in the load model, because reporting is based on rated power.
• Place the IT energy meter at UPS output (Category 1); for UPS-free DC architectures plan PDU metering and document the point.
• Provide separate metering for backup generator energy, water input (total and potable), waste heat temperature and reused heat.
• For colocation projects, design the contractual and data flow by which customers deliver function and utilisation data to the provider.
• Use PUE 4-5 as the baseline assumption for small server-room retrofits.

Who should read it

Designers, operators and policy advisers who need to reflect EU data centre reporting duties in design.

Document contents

1. Introduction
2. Objectives
3. Structure and objectives of this document
4. Definition of data centre
5. Classification of data centres and additional definitions
6. Scope of the reporting obligations
7. Responsibilities to fulfil the reporting obligations
8. Ways to ensure the consistency and quality of the reported data
9. Key performance indicators and methodologies for energy performance and sustainability of data centres
10. Energy consumption
11. Productivity and data functions (processing, storage and transport)
12. Ancillary KPIs
13. Annex A: Sustainability indicators and other metrics referred in the proposals
14. Annex B: ICT capacity and utilisation KPIs

Related standards

• Directive (EU) 2023/1791
• Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1364
• EN 50600-4

Read the document

Publication details

Authors

Viegand Maagoe; COWI

Publisher

European Commission, DG ENER (Viegand Maagoe and COWI)

Year

2023

Document language

English

Source type

Government / public

Access

Open licence — downloadable

DOI

10.2833/304891

Licence

CC BY 4.0 — share with attribution

Licence evidence

op.europa.eu

Citation