Danish Parliament adopts "emergency plan" for electricity grid, puts data centers at the back of queue

Measures were first suggested during the summer

Denmark has adopted an "emergency plan" for its electricity grid that will see large data centers moved to the back of the queue.

The country's Ministry of Climate, Energy, and Utilities revealed that the plan had been voted in on October 1, 2026, and would come into force on October 12.

The plan was first suggested in August of this year.

As stated by the Ministry, the emergency plan "replaces the current first-come, first-served principle with a new model, where Energinet and the grid companies are given greater opportunity to prioritize who gets access to the limited space in the electricity grid."

The agreement will see connection requests split into four categories, with Category 1 given the greatest priority.

Some data center projects have been included within Category 1, which will focus on "protected needs and critical societal functions."

"[Category 1] covers standard load growth for existing customers, new households, small businesses (e.g., in transport), and critical societal functions such as defense, healthcare, and emergency services, including data centers linked to critical societal functions."

Category 2, meanwhile, is for projects that contribute to the green transition and electrification of society. Category 3 is for energy storage facilities, as well as "energy storage capacity in co-located facilities established beyond the user's standard generation or consumption needs."

Finally, Category 4 will cover large energy consumers.

"In principle, this category will include data centers, which are typically not geographically bound and may have consumption patterns that negatively affect the grid. However, data centers linked to functions critical to society may be prioritized under Category 1," the agreement read.

Commenting on the emergency plan, Anna Bjerre, climate, energy and supply spokesperson for the Alternative party, said: "Finally, we will have the gigantic, hyperscale data centers and tech giants at the back of the queue for the electricity grid and the opportunity to reject them, so that we can actually prioritize Denmark's critical societal functions and phase out our use of fossil fuels. It is only the first small step in the big task of electrifying our country and ensuring cheap, green, and stable energy prices, but a really important first step that can take effect already now."

In general, Denmark does not have a particularly large data center market, with most facilities located in and around Copenhagen. Microsoft launched a cloud region in the country earlier this year, which has been under development since 2020. Construction remains ongoing to increase capacity.

Operators in the country include Digital Realty, atNorth, Penta Infra, Global Connect, and Stack Infrastructure, among others.

Finland is also considering a similar tiered approach to grid connection requests. This proposal would prioritize smaller data center projects, pushing back those needing more than 10MW. The consultation process is open until October 9.