Solving data center energy challenges
Energy is becoming a defining factor in data center investment
Securing sufficient power, managing long-term energy costs and navigating grid, permitting and sustainability constraints are now central to data center development.
AFRY helps investors, developers, operators, and energy companies assess opportunities, reduce uncertainty and make better decisions throughout the data center lifecycle; from market entry and site selection to procurement, design, and operation.
The decisions we help you make
Where to invest
Identify the markets and locations with the strongest long-term potential for data center development.
AFRY helps you assess:
- Demand growth and market attractiveness
- Energy prices, regulation and infrastructure constraints
- Long-term investment risks and opportunities
Where to build
Compare potential sites based on power availability, cost, infrastructure and development risk.
AFRY helps you assess:
- Grid capacity and connection timelines
- Permitting, cooling, water and environmental constraints
- Site suitability and long-term operating conditions
How to secure energy
Build a reliable and cost-effective energy strategy aligned with your operational and sustainability goals.
AFRY helps you assess:
- Power procurement and PPA options
- Storage, flexibility and backup solutions
- Long-term costs, price exposure and decarbonization pathways
How to deliver
Move from investment decision to a technically robust and operationally resilient facility.
AFRY supports:
- Engineering and architectural design
- Cooling, electrical systems and grid connections
- Permitting, environmental planning and project delivery
Support for every part of the data center ecosystem
- Investors and financial institutions
- Data center developers
- Hyperscalers and operators
- Colocation and edge providers
- Energy companies and utilities
- Governments and regulators
Investors and financial institutions
Assess market opportunity, project viability and long-term risk before committing or financing capital.
AFRY supports investment and financing decisions with demand projections, electricity-market analysis, commercial and technical due diligence, revenue modelling, energy-cost projections and independent assumptions for valuation and financing.
Data center developers
Identify viable locations and progress projects through the development process.
We support site screening, grid-access strategy, power-price analysis, permitting, environmental assessment, energy procurement, cooling, engineering design and project delivery.
Hyperscalers and operators
Secure reliable, competitive and increasingly low-carbon power for growing portfolios.
Our support includes long-term power procurement, PPA strategy, energy-market analysis, flexibility, resilience, decarbonization pathways, heat reuse, and operational optimization.
Colocation and edge providers
Improve competitiveness, resilience and energy performance across individual sites and wider portfolios.
We help assess energy costs, grid constraints, backup and storage options, flexibility revenues, efficiency improvements and expansion opportunities.
Energy companies and utilities
Understand and respond to the growing role of data centers in the energy system.
AFRY supports utilities with demand analysis, network and generation planning, customer propositions, flexibility strategies, infrastructure investment and assessment of new commercial opportunities.
Governments and regulators
Plan for data center growth while managing its effects on electricity systems, infrastructure and local communities.
Our work includes policy analysis, electricity-system modelling, demand projections, regulatory impact assessment, infrastructure planning and sustainability analysis.
How AFRY supports data center decisions
- Market intelligence and investment analysis
- Energy strategy and project development
- Engineering, design and delivery
Market intelligence and investment analysis
Build a robust view of market attractiveness, energy costs and long-term commercial risk.
- Data center demand and market analysis
- Electricity-price and capture-price projections
- Grid, generation and capacity outlooks
- Carbon and fuel-price scenarios
- Flexibility and storage analysis
- Commercial and technical due diligence
- Bespoke scenario modelling
Energy strategy and project development
Turn market insight into a viable energy and development strategy.
- Site and grid-access strategy
- Power procurement and PPA strategy
- Flexibility, storage and backup-power strategies
- Permitting and environmental assessment
- Decarbonization pathways
- Heat-reuse opportunities
- Resilience and redundancy planning
Engineering, design and delivery
Develop and deliver technically robust, efficient and sustainable facilities.
- Data center engineering and architectural design
- Cooling and HVAC systems
- Water stewardship
- Electrical systems and grid connections
- Environmental and biodiversity planning
- Project management and implementation support
Data and projections for better investment decisions
Data center investments depend on assumptions extending far beyond the site itself. AFRY provides independent market projections and bespoke analysis to help investors, developers and operators understand how electricity prices, generation, grid conditions, flexibility and carbon policy may develop over the lifetime of an asset.
Explore our market intelligence and modelling
Independent projections for long-term planning
AFRY’s energy market reports provide detailed, independently modelled outlooks for more than 80 markets. They help clients assess future operating costs, market exposure and investment risk using consistent assumptions and transparent methodologies.
Relevant reports include:
- Wholesale electricity price projections
- Installed capacity and generation outlooks
- Flexibility and storage market analysis
- Imbalance and ancillary service analysis
- Gas and carbon market projections
- Guarantees of origin and renewable power analysis
Analysis tailored to your site, portfolio or transaction
Standard market forecasts do not answer every investment question. AFRY can develop customized scenarios reflecting a specific location, load profile, procurement strategy, technology configuration or commercial assumption.
Our bespoke analysis can support:
- Site and market comparisons
- Long-term energy cost projections
- Power procurement and PPA decisions
- Flexibility and storage business cases
- Investment and transaction due diligence
- Sensitivity and risk analysis
Robust analysis powered by AFRY’s BID3 model
AFRY’s forecasts are underpinned by BID3, our in-house power market model. BID3 simulates the operation and development of electricity systems, allowing our analysts to assess how demand, generation, interconnection, storage, fuel prices and carbon policy may affect future market outcomes.
Clients benefit from:
- Detailed country and regional modelling
- Long-term and hourly market analysis
- Consistent scenarios across multiple markets
- Transparent assumptions and methodologies
- Direct access to experienced AFRY analysts
AFRY and DCD: Connecting data center and energy intelligence
AFRY works with Data Center Dynamics to bring independent energy-market insight to the data center industry. Through data, analysis, interviews and industry events, we explore how power availability, cost, flexibility and regulation are shaping data center investment and development.
Explore our DCD collaboration
- Article: Power on the critical path: Why the IPP is moving to the center of data center development
- Article: How AI demand is redefining risk for US data center developers
- Article: Global demand, local reality
- Video: Data centers and the wider energy ecosystem
- Article: DCD Intelligence and AFRY
- Event: Meet AFRY at DCD Connect
Power on the critical path: Why the IPP is moving to the center of data center development
How independent power producers are helping bridge the gap between data center development and grid availability
Power availability is increasingly determining where and how quickly new data centers can be developed. AFRY’s Richard Payne explores why flexible power strategies, optionality, and local expertise are becoming essential.
How AI demand is redefining risk for US data center developers
Power, policy and community pressures are changing the development landscape
AI-driven data center growth is intensifying pressure on US power systems, regulation and local communities. This article explores how developers can navigate these evolving risks from siting through to energization.
Global demand, local reality
Why data centers are entering a regulatory reckoning
Richard Payne explores the growing tension between global demand for data centers and the local realities of electricity systems, infrastructure constraints and regulation.
Data centers and the wider energy ecosystem
How can data centers secure the power they need?
Carlos Pérez Linkenheil discusses future electricity demand, grid constraints, price volatility, flexibility and the growing importance of long-term energy procurement strategies.
DCD Intelligence and AFRY
Energy projections for data center investment
AFRY’s proprietary energy-market data and BID3 modelling are integrated into the DCD Intelligence platform, helping users assess power-market risks and opportunities alongside data center development intelligence.
Meet AFRY at DCD Connect
Join AFRY at DCD Connect London on 16–17 September to discuss the energy, investment and infrastructure challenges shaping the next generation of data centers.
Why AFRY for data center energy strategy?
AFRY combines energy-market intelligence, data center expertise and multidisciplinary project delivery to support better decisions from early-stage investment and site selection through to design, implementation and operation.
- More than 30 years of energy-market modelling experience
- Proprietary modelling and datasets covering more than 80 electricity markets
- Detailed understanding of data center energy demand, infrastructure and grid constraints
- Combined commercial, technical, environmental and engineering expertise
- Global capabilities supported by local market specialists
- Experience supporting investors, developers, operators, utilities and public authorities
Frequently asked questions
- What are the main energy considerations when developing a data center?
- How can investors assess the energy risk of a data center project?
- How does AFRY support data center site selection?
- Can AFRY provide long-term electricity-price projections?
- How can data centers procure low-carbon electricity?
- Can data centers provide flexibility to the electricity system?
- How can waste heat from data centers be used?
- Does AFRY support both investment analysis and engineering delivery?
The main considerations include grid capacity and connection timelines, electricity prices, reliability, backup power, renewable energy procurement, cooling demand, water availability, permitting and sustainability requirements.
Investors should consider grid-access certainty, long-term electricity costs, price volatility, procurement options, demand assumptions, flexibility potential, regulatory change and the resilience of the proposed energy solution. AFRY combines commercial analysis with technical due diligence to provide an integrated view of these risks.
AFRY can compare potential locations based on electricity-market conditions, grid access, infrastructure, permitting, energy costs, cooling, water, environmental impacts, heat-reuse potential and local regulatory requirements.
Yes. AFRY provides independent wholesale electricity-price projections and bespoke scenarios across more than 80 markets. These can support operating-cost analysis, procurement strategies, investment cases and portfolio planning.
Options may include renewable power purchase agreements, guarantees of origin, utility contracts, on-site generation and storage. The right approach depends on location, load profile, risk appetite, sustainability targets and market availability.
Potentially. Batteries, backup generation, cooling systems and manageable workloads may provide flexibility, depending on technical requirements and local market rules. The commercial value should be assessed alongside operational and resilience needs.
Where suitable heat networks and nearby demand exist, waste heat can be recovered and supplied to district heating or other users. Viability depends on temperature, location, infrastructure requirements, commercial arrangements and local demand.
Yes. AFRY combines energy-market analysis, transaction advisory, environmental services, engineering, design and implementation support, allowing clients to carry assumptions from early-stage investment decisions through to project delivery.
