French datacenter biz signs 12-year nuclear pact with EDF

The datacenter industry's unquenchable thirst for nuclear energy has seen French bit barn operator Data4 sign a 12 year supply deal with EDF.

The arrangement will see Data4's network of server farms across France tap into a 40MW slice of EDF's atomic-powered grid from next year, making it the first datacenter operator in the country to sign a Nuclear Production Allocation Contract (CAPN).

Data4n operates facilities across a number of campuses in France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Germany, and Greece, and is understood to have at least 1.5 GW of infrastructure in play.

Those in France at least will now be partly powered via a CAPN, in addition to long-term Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) Data4 already has in place for solar and wind energy.

The contract involves a "cost and risk-sharing mechanism" based on the actual volumes of energy produced - a so-called behind-the-meter arrangement where it can ...