Data centers in Germany: 41 projects mapped

Most of Germany's data centers are around Frankfurt, one of Europe's largest hubs, and the towns around it are now deciding whether to take more. Three proposals were stopped this year. Groß-Gerau's council voted 18-14 in February against negotiating with Vantage over a 174-megawatt, 2.5 billion euro campus; STACK Infrastructure dropped a 3 billion euro plan in Babenhausen in July; and on July 2 Eisenach's city council, in Thuringia, stopped a data center planned for 80 hectares of farmland near Stockhausen.

In Eisenach, 19 council members backed a residents' petition to keep the farmland and 16 opposed it, while about 60 people protested outside. The petition's organizer, Steffi Wiegand, said she expects the mayor to bring the plan back and that her group will be ready. In Babenhausen, southeast of Frankfurt, a council coalition had demanded more renewable power, a noise cap, other cooling options and a 250 million euro guarantee; the landowner, Aumovio, blamed "protracted and uncertain processes."

Other projects are moving ahead, including NTT's approved campus at Nierstein on the Rhine, Microsoft's sites at Bergheim and Elsdorf west of Cologne, and Amazon Web Services' plans in Brandenburg, all listed below. Under the federal Energy Efficiency Act, any data center that opens from July 1, 2026 must reuse at least 10 percent of its energy as waste heat, rising to 20 percent for those opening in 2028.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.