According to media reports, Katherina Reiche, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy in Germany, plans to significantly expand the number of German companies eligible for electricity price subsidies. In addition to energy-intensive companies in heavy industry, data centres are now explicitly intended to be included among the beneficiaries. The Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany, founded under the umbrella of the eco Association, welcomes this initiative and sees it as a strong signal for Germany as a business location. Concrete steps are now needed for implementation, as well as the green light from the Federal Ministry of Finance and the EU Commission.
Dr Béla Waldhauser, Spokesperson for the initiative, comments:
“Lower electricity costs for data centres mean more growth potential for the German economy – it’s basically a simple calculation. It is good that Reiche, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, has recognised the potential of data centres for the German economy and brought it back onto the political agenda in the context of electricity price subsidies. As the foundation of AI and cloud models, data centres already contributed around 250 billion Euro to the German economy last year. In 2024, approximately 5.9 million jobs depended on the digital infrastructure ecosystem. It is a logical step for the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy to now support the industry in offsetting what is currently its biggest competitive disadvantage in Germany: Electricity prices for data centres are among the highest in all of Europe and must therefore be reduced by at least 20 per cent in order to offset the disadvantages in international competition.”
