Grid connection requests by data center operators in Italy have reached 95.38GW.

According to the country’s grid operator, Terna, this demand has risen from just 1GW in 2021 to 31.28GW in 2024, and now to the current level.

300 out of the 531 requests made to it between 2021 and the present day were delivered in the past eight months.

DCD has approached Terna for comment.

Requests for new grid connections in Italy require the applicant to provide an estimated power usage for their development and its location, before Terna responds with an outline of the connection solution and the fees it requires from the developer upon the signing of the connection contract.

Most applications the grid operator has received in the past five years have originated from Italy’s northern regions. Lombardy, for example, accounts for 290 requests amounting to 49GW, mostly concentrated around Milan. To accommodate this demand, Terna is developing 27 electrical substations, five of which are already authorized by local authorities in the region. After Lombardy, the regions of Lazio, Piedmont, and Apulia account for most of the connection requests received by the grid operator.

According to analysis by Il Sole 24 ORE, only ten percent of all applications received by Terna in the past five years have originated from data center operators. 60 percent are a mix of property developers and logistics companies, while 30 percent appear to be special-purpose corporate vehicles and design firms. Terna has not approved all of these requests. Of the 531 grid connection requests for data centers it has received since 2021, only 15 are close to final approval, according to reporting by Fortune Italy.

Founded in 1999, Terna manages Italy’s high and extra-high voltage electricity grid. Last year, it revealed a ten-year-plan to invest €10 billion ($11.6bn) to modernize the national network. This included provision for a €3.7 billion ($4.3bn) HVDC submarine cable to connect the southern region of Campania with the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, the boosting of cross-border electrical power transfer by 40 percent, and increasing market-zone energy exchange capacity from 16GW to 39GW.

Learn more about the data center market in Italy and Southern Europe, and meet with other executives and experts from the region at the DCN Milan event next year