The site of a former coal-fired power plant outside Paris, France, could be converted into a €4 billion ($4.64bn) hyperscale data center.

EDF, France’s state energy provider, and data center firm OpCore, have entered exclusive negotiations about the project, which would be built at the former Montereau-Vallée-de-la-Seine power plant located 75km (46.6 miles) southeast of Paris. The coal power station closed in 2004.

News of the deal was first revealed by James Chéron, vice president of the Ile de France regional government, back in July.

The partners said the data center would have a capacity of “several hundred” megawatts. The 20-hectare land parcel has an authorized grid connection of up to 700MW.

Bernard Fontana, chairman and CEO of EDF, said: “This partnership with OpCore is aligned with EDF’s mission: to provide actors in the digital sector with abundant, reliable, low-carbon electricity produced in France.

“By offering sites equipped with the necessary infrastructure and support for rapid grid connection, we are accelerating the development of next-generation infrastructure, thereby strengthening the country’s digital sovereignty while supporting the economic momentum of the local area.”

The site is one of four potential data center developments on EDF land at current or former power plant facilities.

In February, the French energy utility announced it was requesting expressions of interest for digital companies wishing to build data centers on EDF-owned land in France. The company has earmarked four sites across the country, totaling up to 2GW of capacity, with fast-tracked grid connections.

EDF is also offering potential developments at La Maxe and Richemont in Moselle. Details on the fourth site haven’t been shared. Efforts are underway to identify other suitable land spaces, with the aim of selecting two additional sites by 2026, for a total of six sites.

France is looking to attract more data center companies, offering fast-tracked access to its power grid, which operates at a surplus thanks to its large fleet of nuclear power plants and burgeoning renewable energy industry.

Roland Lescure, French Minister of the Economy, Finance, and Digital and Industrial Sovereignty, said: “This massive investment proves how France intends to lead the AI revolution. By housing such large strategic facilities on our soil, we’re reiterating our determination to reindustrialize our country, create regional employment, and make France a major digital power.”

OpCore was formed in 2023 after French telco Iliad separated its data center business from its Scaleway cloud unit. The company has six data centers across Paris, one each in Lyon and Marseille, and seven in Poland. The portfolio totals around 131MW, including in-development projects.

Investment firm InfraVia acquired a 50 percent stake in OpCore last year, fuelling plans to scale the firm to more than 130MW through the development of a 100MW data center in the Paris region, and then to “multiple hundreds of megawatts” across Europe. Iliad retains ownership of the rest of the company.

Thomas Reynaud, CEO of the Iliad Group, said: “With this project, we’re going much further than just building a data center. We’re creating one of the largest strategic facilities that France and Europe as a whole need to retain control of their digital destiny.

“Thanks to EDF’s commitment and support from the public authorities, the Montereau site will become a site of excellence as an AI computing center and for European innovation. This marks a key step towards strengthening our technological sovereignty and generating sustainable value for our country.”