A joint investigation by Lighthouse Report, Trouw, and multiple European news organizations found that most data centers across Europe decline to disclose their water and power consumption. The researchers pursued these figures for over a year via freedom of information laws in several European nations, yet failed to secure the data.
The Dutch Picture
The situation in the Netherlands stands out. Fewer than a quarter of the nation’s larger data centers make public any details on their consumption of electricity and drinking water, per the study. The Dutch Datacenter Association (DDA) said that there were 186 commercial data centers with a capacity of 500 kW or higher operating in the country by the close of last year.
The RVO, which gathers the information for the EU, holds data on just 104 of the centers. The agency told Trouw that it possesses additional information on certain other centers, though it did not supply any numbers.
The electricity use of 44 centers and the water use of 47 represent the public figures available for these smaller Dutch data facilities — less than a quarter of the larger national total. Because the RVO has not gathered complete data on water and energy consumption, official reports depend on partial snapshots rather than full records.
What the Directive Requires
The European Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) obliges data centers with an installed capacity of at least 500 kilowatts (kW) to report data including their energy and water consumption. The directive has been in effect for three years. In practice, few comply.
The research indicates that adherence to reporting standards is inconsistent. Only a minority of the larger Dutch data centers make any disclosures, and an even smaller proportion provide combined figures for both electricity and water usage.
Electricity Usage in the Netherlands
The Dutch national statistics office, CBS, has published figures demonstrating that data centers consumed 5.1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in the Netherlands during 2024, marking an increase that nearly doubles the amount recorded just five years prior.
Grid operator TenneT projects that data centers will consume 10 to 15 percent of the Netherlands’ electricity by 2030. Microsoft’s largest data center in the Netherlands alone accounts for 1 percent of the national electricity consumption, per data from the RVO revealed this summer.
Two large data centers operated by Google sit in the Netherlands, yet the company refuses to reveal any details about them.
Water Use Is Also Secret
The Netherlands’ data centers are believed to consume around 0.1 percent of the country’s total water supply. With climate change bringing longer dry spells and water shortages, careful water use has become ever more important.
Given the growing need for power alongside an unstable water supply, clear reporting has become particularly pressing. Data centers sit among the biggest users of both these resources.
The Missing Data Problem
The research poses a practical question about oversight: how can policymakers govern an industry they cannot measure? Lacking reliable information on electricity and water use, there is no way to tell whether data centers are growing more efficient, more wasteful, or remaining unchanged.
There is a rule designed to address this issue, yet it seems to go unheeded. The distance between what the law demands and what actually gets reported is substantial, and the study lays out that difference with precision.
The RVO’s Role
That the RVO admits holding more data on certain centers without supplying numbers is worth noting. It shows the agency possesses information it is unwilling to disclose, even to researchers operating under freedom of information law.
The Dutch Case
Across Europe, the pattern of secrecy repeats itself, and the Dutch experience is far from alone. The study draws on several European countries, showing that keeping information under wraps is a shared habit rather than an exception.
| Metric | Figures Available | Total Centers |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity (public figures) | 44 | 186 |
| Water (public figures) | 47 | 186 |
| Electricity (RVO) | 104 | 186 |
| Water (RVO) | Limited | 186 |
The numbers in the table reveal the size of the shortfall: just a minority of 186 centers publish their data, and even the RVO’s own figures are not fully complete.
The Paper’s View
It is not the case that the directive falls short. Rather, the directive sits on the books and remains unenforced, while data centers continue to ignore it entirely.
The results raise serious concerns, yet they mark an initial stage. The research lays bare the difference, and recording the situation is the opening move toward correcting it. It is not yet clear whether those who make policy will respond to these details, but the study has fulfilled its purpose: it has presented, plainly in figures, how large the absence of information truly is.
Here is a ranked summary of the key findings:
- The EED has been in effect for three years, yet compliance is low.
- Fewer than a quarter of Dutch data centers with 500 kW or higher capacity publish electricity or water figures.
- CBS figures show data centers used 5.1 billion kWh of electricity in 2024, nearly doubling the figure from five years prior.
- TenneT projects data centers will use 10 to 15 percent of the Netherlands’ electricity by 2030; one Microsoft center alone accounts for 1 percent of national consumption.
- The RVO holds data on just 104 of 186 Dutch data centers, with limited water figures despite possessing more data on some centers.
Where the paper stands
The paper backs the smaller data centers against the secrecy they share with the Dutch Datacenter Association and is against the national pattern of withholding water and power consumption figures, which favors the largest operators. The directive exists and should be enforced, but the study shows that enforcement barely exists. The numbers show the gap between what the law requires and what data centers report, and that gap favors the largest operators.
The study finds that most data centers across Europe decline to disclose their water and power consumption, and that the Dutch picture matches the wider European one. Fewer than a quarter of the nation’s larger data centers make public any details on their consumption of electricity and drinking water, per the study. The Dutch Datacenter Association (DDA) said that there were 186 commercial data centers with a capacity of 500 kW or higher operating in the country by the close of last year, yet the RVO holds data on just 104 of the centers. The RVO told Trouw that it possesses additional information on certain other centers, though it did not supply any numbers.
The paper wants the directive enforced as written, with full disclosure of electricity and water consumption from every data center with an installed capacity of at least 500 kilowatts. The reader should watch for any attempt by the data center industry or its trade association to push for voluntary reporting instead of mandatory disclosure, since voluntary systems tend to favor the largest operators. The paper also wants oversight narrow and aimed at the harm, not a broad new rulebook that raises the cost of entry for small data centers.
Source material: “Most data centers refusing to say how much water, electricity they use,” nltimes.nl.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.