Minister says she can't stop massive Microsoft data center in Amsterdam

Caretaker Minister Mona Keijzer of Spatial Planning says there is nothing she can do to stop a massive new data center in Amsterdam for the sole use of the American tech company Microsoft. “This permit was granted five years ago,” Keijzer (BBB) said during question time in parliament, NOS reports. “So there’s nothing I can do about it anymore.”

Several parties are highly critical of the construction of the data center. “The power capacity is very limited. We believe that this shouldn’t be at the expense of Dutch and local parties,” said CDA MP Jantine Zwinkels.

“The irony is: there are currently 10,000 homes that aren’t being built, businesses on waiting lists that can wait until doomsday, but Microsoft can suddenly do this,” said ChristenUnie MP Pieter Grinwis. “I can’t understand it.”

In 2022, the previous government implemented a nationwide ban on “hyperscale data centers” - data centers with an electricity connection of at least 70 megawatts and a surface area of 100,000 square meters or more. These data centers are typically used by only one company. The rules came following criticism of Meta's plans to build a massive data center in Flevoland. The company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp ultimately abandoned the plan.

The data center in Amsterdam has a total connection capacity of 78 megawatts, but consists of three 85-meter-high towers with a surface area of only 23,000 square meters. So even if the permit wasn’t already issued before the ban, the ban would not have stopped it.

Once the new data center in Amsterdam uses its full electricity connection, it will consume the same amount of power in a year as a small city. Grinwis thinks it's time for stricter rules. “The definition of a hyperscale facility is both 10 hectares and more than 70 megawatts,” he said. “Isn’t it time to tighten that definition a bit? That it has to be either more than 10 hectares or more than 70 megawatts?”

Keijzer repeated that there was nothing she could do about this. It is up to the new Cabinet to critically examine the rules that are supposed to prevent the construction of enormous data centers in locations where the government doesn’t want them, she told parliament. “I think you can certainly look at it critically, but that’s really up to a new Cabinet.”