Piotr Kowalski

The European data centre market faces mounting pressure from AI workloads, renewable energy requirements and land constraints in traditional hubs. 

FLAP-D markets in particular (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin) have encountered a range of grid capacity limitations and planning restrictions as demand continues to rise. These constraints have led to operators now being pushed to consider alternative locations for large-scale developments.

It is against this backdrop that Poland is emerging as a strong presence in the European data centre market. With the country’s ongoing investments in grid development, alongside its rapid renewable energy transition and its ability to support digital infrastructure, it is attracting both regional and international data centre operators. 

“We see Poland as a contender for Tier 2 market status, allowing European data centre capacity expansion outside of the FLAP-D region and serving as a gateway to Central and Eastern Europe,” says Sylwia Pyśkiewicz, Managing Director at Equinix Polska.

Piotr Kowalski, Managing Director of the Polish Data Centre Association (PLDCA), adds: “When it comes to AI training and inference, the mainland Europe position of Poland allows it to serve the whole continent within the required latency range.”

Prioritising sustainability and opportunity

To support such growth, the PLDCA was founded in May 2023 by five major colocation operators. The organisation represents companies across the data centre value chain, from site acquisition through design engineering, general contractors, MEP system integrators, equipment vendors, commissioning agents and facility management providers.

Piotr says: “The mission of PLDCA has quickly been recognised and supported by various data centre industry stakeholders, both national and international. As of February 2025, PLDCA consists of 45 companies representing a full range of data centre value chain.”

Having established its position, PLDCA has been working closely with the Ministry of Digital Affairs, the Ministry of Climate and Energy as well as other stakeholders involved in the legislative process affecting the industry across Poland.

For Piotr, the association will continue to champion Polish data centre growth. 

“The next initiative we're currently discussing is focused around expedited planning and permitting procedures for data centres,” he shares. “There’s been a special, streamlined pathway approved by the government for the purpose of developing the National Data Centres (KCPD) project. Having a standard process approved for the wide data centre industry would expedite the country's digitalisation and attract international investors.”

With this level of support, Poland is maintaining growth within the EU, which is supported by a highly-skilled workforce across the technology sector. Technical expertise, alongside competitive salary structures, provides a range of operational advantages for data centre operators.

“The market has experienced explosive growth in recent years, having quickly developed from telco and retail colocation to a strong European Tier 2 market contender,” Piotr explains. “When combined with the passion and skills demonstrated by the companies associated with PLDCA, it’s a truly inspiring initiative to lead. Our ambition for proving the market worth to the data centre community is very strong.”

Supporting the energy transition

While investing in renewable energy infrastructure, Poland has successfully been growing its data centre industry. PLDCA is also eager to challenge the world’s perception of the country as coal-based and unsustainable.

Piotr adds: “When looking at the big picture, Poland offers a competitive mix of new, low emissions energy generation and power transmission assets, great PUE stemming from the lowest annual average ambient temperature in Europe outside of the Nordics and huge heat-reuse opportunities with the second largest district heating network in Europe.

“The demand for green data centres aligns with the country's strategic direction for energy and digital transformation, creating a perfect storm for sustainable growth.”

Future-proofing European data centres

Like the rest of the world, the development of AI-specific infrastructure has emerged as a focus area for Polish data centres. For instance, site selection for AI facilities prioritises access to high-voltage grid connections, low-emission power generation, competitive electricity costs and heat reuse opportunities.

“Having great engineering Partners in the association, both international design power-houses as well as strong local experts, allows PLDCA to identify and promote cutting edge technologies benefiting from the AI revolution,” Piotr explains.

“What we've noticed is that from the outsider perspective Poland is often perceived through the lens of high CO2 emissions of its electricity generation system,” Piotr says. “As much as it has been true historically, this fact may lead to false conclusions when considering medium and long-term data centre investments." says Piotr. 

He adds: “Poland is a cool place for data centres and we hope to have as many people as possible to leverage the country's potential to meet the growing infrastructure needs of digital Europe.”

To read the full article in the magazine, click HERE. 

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