Amsterdam Data Centres and Grid Congestion: Timeline and Sources, 2019 to 2026
Two separate limits apply to new data centres in the Amsterdam area. Planning law decides where one may be built and how much power it may add, and Amsterdam, Haarlemmermeer and the national government each set their own rules. Grid capacity decides whether TenneT and Liander can connect it, and in most of Noord-Holland they have no room for new large users. A project needs both a planning consent and a grid connection, so either limit can stop it. Those rules come from the two municipalities, the national government, the grid operators, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) and the courts, and date from July 2019 to August 2026.
Timeline
| Date | Body | Decision or event | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 July 2019 | Municipalities of Amsterdam and Haarlemmermeer | Preparatory decisions (voorbereidingsbesluit) pause new data centres in both municipalities, citing the load on the electricity grid and the use of space. Projects already under way are unaffected. | Dutch Data Center Association |
| 24 November 2020 | Municipality of Haarlemmermeer | Data centre policy takes effect, with a growth budget to 2030. | Lokale regelgeving, CVDR646404 |
| 17 December 2020 | Municipality of Amsterdam | Adopts Amsterdam Duurzaam Digitaal, the data centre policy for 2020 to 2030: growth capped at 670 MVA to 2030 and a power usage effectiveness (PUE) below 1.2. | DLA Piper |
| 16 February 2022 | National government | Nine-month pause on new hyperscale data centres (more than 10 hectares and more than 70 MW) outside designated areas, while national rules are drafted. | DutchNews |
| October 2023 | TenneT | The high-voltage grid in Noord-Holland reaches its maximum capacity for offtake by large users. New and increased connections go on a waiting list. | TenneT |
| December 2023 | Municipality of Amsterdam | A new preparatory decision restricts data centres and announces a temporary stop on new ones until 2030. | Dutch Data Center Association, Computable |
| 20 December 2023 | National government | Decree amending the Besluit kwaliteit leefomgeving makes the hyperscale restriction permanent, in force 1 January 2024. | Staatsblad 2023, 492 |
| 16 April 2024 | ACM | Code decision GOTORK, short for gebruik op tijd of raak het kwijt (use it in time or lose it), on unused contracted transport capacity. | ACM |
| October 2024 | ACM | The prioritisation framework (prioriteringskader) starts to apply: in congestion areas, grid operators may connect certain categories of user ahead of the queue. | Binnenlands Bestuur |
| 20 December 2024 | TenneT and Liander | No extra grid capacity in large parts of Noord-Holland for the next ten years. Overloads are expected from 2026 north of Beverwijk and around the Vijfhuizen high-voltage substation, including south-west Amsterdam. Of 606 large users with connections above 1 MW asked about avoiding the peak, 66 saw a way to do it. | TenneT, TenneT newsletter |
| March 2025 | Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal (CBb) | Annuls the ACM prioritisation framework for insufficient reasoning (ECLI:NL:CBB:2025:145) and leaves it in force until 1 January 2026 while the ACM decides again. | Binnenlands Bestuur |
| April 2025 | Municipality of Amsterdam | Alderman Zita Pels proposes extending the stop to 2035 and applying it to expansions of existing data centres as well. | Computable |
| 11 June 2025 | Municipality of Amsterdam | The stop on new large data centres applies from this date. | Liander |
| 21 November 2025 | Liander | Because of Amsterdam's data centre policy, three planned substations are no longer needed, saving about €125 million. | Liander |
| 12 December 2025 | ACM | Replacement prioritisation framework published, in force 1 January 2026. | ACM |
| 15 January 2026 | Liander | Revised expected end dates for congested sub-grids serving Amsterdam. | Liander |
| 27 January 2026 | Minister Mona Keijzer | States that a 78 MW data centre for Microsoft in Amsterdam cannot be stopped because its permit was granted five years earlier. | NOS |
| 29 April 2026 | District court, Arnhem | Rules for TenneT against Goodman, a developer seeking a 70 MW connection at the Vijfhuizen substation near Schiphol for a data centre. The court finds the grid at full capacity and Goodman stays on the waiting list. NL Times reports that the constraint could last until around 2035. | NL Times |
| 2 June 2026 | Liander | 27,500 household requests for a heavier connection in January to May 2026, against 18,000 a year earlier; about 7,300 households on a waiting list for the first time. | NL Times |
| 1 July 2026 | Grid operators, national rule | New or heavier household connections in full areas go on the waiting list. Homes up to 3 x 35 A count as a basic need and get priority. | Liander |
| July 2026 | Municipality of Amsterdam | Building permit for an Equinix data centre on the Amstel III business park in Zuidoost: four towers and an 80 MW connection to TenneT's grid. One 60-metre tower is built first on Liander capacity applied for years earlier; the other three wait for TenneT substations expected in 2036. | NL Times, DutchNews |
| 18 August 2026 | Residents, municipality of Amsterdam | More than 500 people have joined the Stop Datacenter Zuidoost campaign against the Equinix permit. The municipality says revoking the permit at this stage would expose it to legal action and penalties. | DutchNews |
Planning limits in force on 23 September 2026
| Rule | Issued by | Applies to | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data centre policy | Municipality of Amsterdam | The municipality of Amsterdam | No new data centres and no expansions until 2035. Excepted: applications submitted before 28 December 2023, and projects already in advanced talks with the municipality. |
| Datacenterbeleid gemeente Haarlemmermeer | Municipality of Haarlemmermeer | Four designated areas: Polanenpark, Schiphol-Rijk, Corneliahoeve and Schiphol Trade Park | 750 MVA of added connection capacity to 2030, at most 70 MVA a year, split by area: Polanenpark 100 MVA, Corneliahoeve 100 MVA, Schiphol-Rijk 350 MVA, Schiphol Trade Park 200 MVA. A site above 80 MVA needs its own 150 kV substation. No extra space after 2030. PUE below 1.2 and waste heat offered to district heating where applicable. |
| Instruction rule for hyperscale data centres | National government | The Netherlands | A data centre with more than 10 hectares of built floor area and a connection of 70 MW or more may be built only at designated locations in Het Hogeland and Hollands Kroon. |
The national rule applies both tests together, so a building that exceeds only one of them is not a hyperscale data centre in law. According to NOS, the 78 MW Microsoft project in Amsterdam stays under the floor-area test because it is built as three 85-metre towers.
Liander waiting-list estimates for Amsterdam sub-grids, January 2026
| Sub-grid (deelnet) | Amsterdam requests waiting | Previous estimate | Estimate from 15 January 2026 | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oostzaan | About 120 | 2031 | 2029 to 2030 | Demand grew less than forecast |
| Vijfhuizen | About 80 | 2031 | 2036 | Delay to the new A9-Zuid substation in Haarlemmermeer |
| Diemen (Amsterdam Zuidoost and Oost) | About 150 | Fourth quarter of 2036 | End of 2037 | Delays to new and expanded substations |
Source: Liander, 15 January 2026.
In its December 2024 notice, Liander said it would build or expand 42 large and 40 small substations and lay or replace 6,000 km of cable in Noord-Holland by 2033, with extra capacity released in stages from 2031 and the high-voltage expansion complete by 2036 (TenneT).
Allocation rules for congested capacity
Prioritisation framework. In a congestion area, grid operators connect three categories ahead of the queue: congestion relievers (projects that free capacity on the grid, such as batteries), safety (services essential to national security, including hospitals, police and fire services) and basic needs. The replacement framework in force from 1 January 2026 added public transport, shared housing, telecommunications and gas storage to basic needs (ACM). Data centres are not a category of their own. A data centre can be prioritised only through a joint request initiated by a priority party whose data it handles exclusively (NLconnect).
GOTORK. A grid operator may reduce the contracted transport capacity of a user connected at medium, high or extra-high voltage in a congestion area when a substantial amount of it goes unused, and offer the freed capacity to users on the waiting list. The operator must consult the user first, and the user can keep the capacity by showing it is needed now or will be within a reasonable period (ACM).
Terms
- Grid congestion (netcongestie): the state in which a grid operator cannot contract new or increased transport capacity in an area without risking overload. Existing contracts continue.
- Contracted transport capacity (gecontracteerd transportvermogen, GTV): the capacity a connected user has agreed with the grid operator, and the quantity that waiting lists and GOTORK act on.
- TenneT: the operator of the national high-voltage transmission grid.
- Liander: the regional distribution operator for Noord-Holland, Gelderland, Friesland, Flevoland and parts of Zuid-Holland, including Amsterdam.
- MVA and MW: the municipal budgets are set in megavolt-amperes of connection capacity, the national rule in megawatts. The two differ by the load's power factor.
- Preparatory decision (voorbereidingsbesluit): a municipal or national decision under Dutch planning law that temporarily blocks changes of land use while a new plan is prepared.
Revision history
- 23 September 2026: first published.
Disclosure
Serverside.com, the publisher, rents out dedicated servers housed in a facility in Haarlemmermeer and is affected by the decisions listed here. Our commentary on what the grid situation means for server customers is in a separate article.
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