Industry association endorses model activating existing grid capacity to deploy 120+MW AI infrastructure while decarbonizing European food production.
AMSTERDAM , NETHERLANDS, March 25, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — The European Data Centre Association (EUDCA) has admitted Digital Energy to its membership, endorsing an infrastructure model that treats AI computing as a heat source for food production, not a competing load on Europe’s constrained power grid.
AI compute demand is doubling every six months while European grid capacity grows around 5% annually. Traditional projects face five-year interconnection queues. Digital Energy bypasses these constraints by co-locating AI infrastructure with industrial greenhouses. The same grid connection powers liquid-cooled AI compute, then delivers heat to replace natural gas in food production. Natural gas currently heats approximately 80% of greenhouse agriculture in the Netherlands, the world’s second-largest food exporter, despite its small land area.
The result: not a data centre that needs energy, but energy infrastructure that computes.
“Half of the world’s energy is used for heat, and two-thirds still comes from fossil fuels,” said Carlos Reuven, Founder and CEO of Digital Energy. “AI computing is the next great heating solution. Every watt that powers intelligence can also power industry. That’s how you scale without fighting for grid capacity.”
Digital Energy has secured binding terms with Dutch greenhouse operators covering 12 million m², equivalent to more than 4,200 football pitches, or nine times the size of New York’s Central Park with 600 megawatts of underlying energy infrastructure. Beyond greenhouses, 4 GW of signed heat demand is engaged to extend the model into manufacturing, district heating and food processing. First deployments target Q4 2026, scaling to 5 GW by 2030 pan-European.
“Traditional development means joining a five-year queue for grid capacity that may never arrive,” said Jonathan Mattis, co-founder and Chief Growth Officer of Digital Energy. “We go where power already exists and is underutilised. We bring the technology to turn that energy infrastructure into AI capacity in months, while others wait years to begin.”
The EUDCA represents European data centre operators on EU policy and is a founding member of the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, which commits signatories to climate neutrality by 2030.
“The next generation of European infrastructure won’t be built by companies optimising the old model. It will be built by those rethinking what a data centre can be,” said Michael Winterson, Secretary General of the European Data Centre Association. “Digital Energy demonstrates how AI infrastructure can contribute beyond compute, by reusing heat, supporting food production and delivering sovereign AI capacity. This is exactly the kind of structural innovation our industry needs. We are pleased to welcome them to the EUDCA.”
Digital Energy will present its operational model at Kickstart Europe 2026 in Amsterdam on 3–4 February joining a panel discussion on the deployment and financing of large-scale AI infrastructure.
About Digital Energy
Digital Energy develops distributed AI infrastructure co-located with industrial heat users. Heat generated from AI computing replaces fossil fuels in agriculture and industrial processes. The company is targeting 5 GW pan-European AI deployments by 2035. www.digital-energy.group
About the European Data Centre Association
The EUDCA represents European data centre operators, suppliers and trade associations. A founding member of the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, the association supports industry collaboration on sustainability and EU policy. eudca.org
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Jonathan Mattis Glender
Digital Energy AG
press@digital-energy.group
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