The Dutch hosting sector is surprised by the moratorium on new data centres announced by the Amsterdam region, ICT news platform Ag Connect reports. Industry groups Dutch Datacenter Association (DDA), Dutch Hosting Provider Association (DHPA) and ISPConnect said they are disappointed by the decision.
The region has suspended any new applications for data centres while it works out a new policy for the sector, taking into account the high energy demands of data centres and their impact on the environment. The aim is to use more of the excess heat generated by the data centres to power other services, such as heating.
The DDA said its members are crucial to the Netherlands' leading digital position in the world. It disagrees with the city's claim that data centres take up too much space and burden the electricity grid. It noted that the heat generated is free to any takers and it's ready to develop solutions.
The grid operator Liander earlier estimated that as much as 37 percent of energy used in the Amsterdam metro area could go to data centres by 2030.
The DHPA said it understands that the limits on space and energy are important issues for the city. However, it stressed that data centres are built to be as climate-neutral and energy-efficient as possible. ISPConnect also said the moratorium is no solution, as every sector in the economy is digitising quickly.
