European data center firm Data4 has signed a nuclear power supply agreement with French electric utility EDF to power its French data center portfolio.

The Nuclear Production Allocation Contract (NPAC) will last for 12 years and see EDF supply 40MW of power from its operational fleet. As part of the agreement, Data4 will share a portion of the costs and risks associated with the volumes of energy actually produced.

The first delivery of power is expected in 2026, with EDF projected to supply an annual volume of around 230GWh.

“We are extremely proud to sign this first low-carbon CAPN with EDF, a long-standing partner and key player in the energy transition in France,” said François Stérin, chief operating officer of Data4.

“This contract is not only a strong environmental commitment; it is also a pillar of our growth and competitiveness strategy. Combined with power purchase agreements for renewable energies, it guarantees us reliable, resilient, and continuous access to low-carbon energy at a controlled cost over the long term, a considerable advantage for our customers and for the development of our infrastructure.”

Data4 will be the first data center operator in France to sign such an agreement. The NPAC contract structure was introduced this year, with EDF offering it via a European-wide auction mechanism, targeting large energy consumers (more than 7GWh per year) and electricity suppliers/producers with the capacity to physically receive electricity in France.

“EDF is delighted to have signed a nuclear generation allocation contract with Data4, a European data center operator. This partnership will enable Data4 to benefit from a low-carbon, competitive, and available electricity supply, which is a key asset for digital players. This approach is fully in line with EDF’s commitment to the development of data centers in France as well as to the country’s energy and industrial sovereignty,” said Marc Benayoun, EDF group executive director in charge of customers, services, and territories.

The agreement builds on a ten-year Power Purchase Agreement signed last year between Data4 and EDF-owned Italian utility Edison Energia for 500GWh of energy from an Italian solar project.

The nuclear supply agreement is one of the first of its kind in the European market, with the majority of major deals involving traditional nuclear operators, primarily in the US market. Meta, Microsoft, and AWS have all signed long-term PPAs to offtake power from large-scale nuclear plants in the US.

The European market has not been as active. However, last month saw colo data center developer Equinix sign deals with two European advanced nuclear companies, agreeing to offtake 250MW from ULC-Energy in the Netherlands, and 500MW from Stellaria in France. Following the deal with Equinix, Stellaria announced the successful raise of €22 million ($25.6m) as part of its latest funding round.

Data4 was established back in 2006 by Colony Capital (now DigitalBridge) and has been owned by Brookfield since April 2023. The company currently operates more than 30 data centers in France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Germany, and Greece, totaling around 1.5GW. Just last month, Data4 sold a 30 percent stake in its stabilised data center portfolio for $3.6 billion.

EDF is the world’s largest nuclear power producer, with 74 operational nuclear reactors, including 56 in France. Last November, it was reported that the company was in discussions with three data center providers about supplying power for up to three 1GW data center projects in France.