Power availability is becoming the defining constraint dictating data center operational capacity growth in the EMEA region, a new report from Colliers has found.

According to Colliers’ EMEA Data Centre Markets Report H1 2026, delivery constraints are worsening in the core Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin (FLAPD) markets, where grid access is limiting expansion.

Ireland, Germany, and the UK are specifically called out as suffering from “acute grid constraints.”

To combat these constraints, operators are turning to alternative power generation strategies, such as self-generation and microgrids. Developers are also pushing into markets beyond FLAPD, such as Madrid, Milan, Lisbon, and the Nordics.

Combined, Colliers describes these changes as a “structural shift” in how and where capital is deployed.

According to Colliers, London, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan, Helsinki, and Riyadh account for 7GW of capacity under construction and planned, which shows “the continued importance of established hubs and the growing role of new markets in absorbing demand.”

However, while 78GW of projects have been announced across EMEA, Colliers cautions that converting this planned capacity into operational capacity will depend on infrastructure readiness and power availability, rather than demand fundamentals alone.

“Power has become the defining filter for capital in this sector,” said Gonzalo Martin, head of data centers capital markets, EMEA, at Colliers. “Investors are no longer simply backing demand growth, they are prioritizing assets and locations where energy access is secure and deliverable. That is accelerating capital rotation into markets that can support deployment at scale, even if they historically sat outside the core.”

Lottie Tollman, head of data centers advisory for EMEA at Colliers, added: “The divergence between announced capacity and deliverable supply is widening. Grid connection timelines, permitting complexity and energy requirements are now the critical variables. Markets with aligned energy infrastructure and policy clarity will capture disproportionate growth over the next cycle.”

Grid connection timelines in Europe are continuing to stretch as more data center capacity is planned and constructed. In the UK, average grid connection timelines for data centers are extending past eight years. Other European markets are seeing similar wait times.

However, this issue is far from isolated to EMEA. Power availability and grid capacity are becoming the most pressing constraint to data center growth worldwide. In the US, for example, the average grid interconnection time has reached around five years, while the average AI data center construction takes between one and a half and two years.