The development of a total of 18 data centers in Greece by 2030 was announced by the Deputy Minister of Digital Governance, Konstantinos Kyranakis, at the 14th Athens Energy Summit.
The data centers will be developed mainly in Attica and Thessaloniki, while one will be created in Western Macedonia, one in Thessaly and one in Crete, as he clarified.
“In 2019, we developed a strategy with the aim of communicating to the markets that Greece is friendly to investments in the field of technology. The government facilitated, accelerated and supported the investments announced. The effort is bearing fruit and the necessary infrastructure is being prepared to ensure adequate electricity supply. We hope to become an important player in the region,” Kyranakis said.
However, the deputy minister stressed that energy costs could be a deterrent to similar investments in the future and called on the European Union to make decisions on how energy will be priced at the European level.
“The news is not necessarily good for European markets, as US companies are choosing to redesign the distribution of data centers and the spaces that will host them based on energy prices,” Kyranakis said.
“The prices that were formed after the announcements for investments in data centers in Greece constitute a great risk for our country,” he warned. “We will not be in the companies’ preferences, especially if the developments with the small energy production units in which Google, Amazon and Microsoft are investing in the US are taken into account,” he added.
The deputy minister also noted that in response to a relevant question from the ministry, Google confirmed that it has not managed to develop a data center anywhere in the world that will operate only with energy from RES.
