Where should your next data center go? The grid decides — we map it.

Country-by-country scores for green-powered data center investment: electricity prices, PPA markets, grid queues & reliability, cooling climate, water stress and incentives. Adjustable weights, your own scenarios, updated continuously.

See the Index — free Get the weekly brief

See the whole board.Thirteen countries scored across six investment-critical layers — from Frankfurt's grid queues to Riyadh's 20-year 5% tax zone. One screen, no 200-page PDF.

Weight it your way.An AI training campus doesn't care about latency; a colocation play lives on it. Adjust layer weights, switch investor profiles, or plug in your own site data.

Know the bottleneck first.Every location card shows the layers that will hurt — grid reliability that doubles your Tier III cost, water stress that kills evaporative cooling, permits that take years.

Layer weights

Weights are normalized to 100% automatically. Pick a profile to load a preset.

Green Data Center Location Index — July 2026

Bar length is the composite score (0–100); colored segments show each layer's weighted contribution. Click a country for details.

Score 0–100 · weighted composite · 2024–2026 open-source data, indicative — verify against primary sources before investment decisions

Layer scores

Location notes

Compare countries

Pick two or three countries for a layer-by-layer comparison in the current mode.

Score your own site

Have data for a specific region or site? Plug it in — it joins the ranking marked with ◇.

Location name

Power price (€/MWh)

Renewable share (%)

PPA maturity (1–5)

SAIDI (min/yr)

Grid connection (1–5)

Cooling climate (1–5)

Water abundance (1–5)

Fiber / latency (1–5)

Incentives (1–5)

Permitting speed (1–5)

Methodology & sources

How every number on this page is produced. Indicative data — verify against primary sources before investment decisions.

Each country gets six layer scores (0–100), combined into a weighted composite using the sliders above (weights normalize to 100%). Raw inputs are shown in the Data table. Formulas:

Power cost — linear scale on all-in industrial electricity cost for a data-center consumer (PPA/market price + grid fees + applicable energy taxes): €40/MWh → 100, €260/MWh → 0. Sources: Eurostat, national regulators, market PPA ranges. Last verified: Jul 2026.
Green energy access — 60% renewable share of generation (0–60%+ scaled) + 40% corporate-PPA market maturity (1–5 expert score). Sources: Ember/Our World in Data; PPA market reports. Last verified: Jul 2026.
Grid & reliability — 55% connection accessibility for large loads (1–5 expert score: queues, moratoria, TSO speed) + 45% reliability from SAIDI minutes/year on a log scale (5 min → 100, 600 min → 0). Sources: national TSO/DSO reports, CEER benchmarking, Bundesnetzagentur, DEWA, CNMC. Last verified: Jul 2026.
Cooling & water — 60% cooling climate (1–5: free-cooling hours, design temperatures) + 40% water abundance (1–5, informed by WRI Aqueduct baseline water stress). Sources: climate normals, WRI Aqueduct. Last verified: Jul 2026.
Fiber & latency — 1–5 expert score on subsea-cable diversity, IX presence and latency to major hubs. Sources: TeleGeography, IX directories. Last verified: Jul 2026.
Incentives & permits — 50% incentive strength (tax regimes, SEZs, grants; 1–5) + 50% permitting speed (1–5). Sources: national legislation and investment agencies. Last verified: Jul 2026.

2030 Outlook is a scenario, not a prediction: layer inputs are adjusted only where there is an announced, funded or legislated change (approved grid plans, targets in law, capacity under construction). Every adjustment is listed in the country's 🔭 note, and ▲▼ markers show exactly which layers move and by how much.

Judgment scores (1–5) are the author's structured assessments from the cited sources — argue with them! Corrections are the fastest way to make the index better: erturk84@gmail.com.

Changelog

24 Jul 2026 — v0.3: Added Norway and Finland (13 countries). New: country comparison mode, shareable scenario links, methodology section, rank-change markers (#now→#2030) and per-layer ▲▼ deltas in the 2030 Outlook.
24 Jul 2026 — v0.2: Added the 2030 Outlook scenario mode. Revised Sweden's power cost (~€85/MWh all-in) to reflect the full energy-tax burden on DCs after the 2023 relief withdrawal; incentives score lowered accordingly.
23 Jul 2026 — v0.1: Initial launch: 11 countries, 6 layers, adjustable weights, investor profiles, score-your-own-site mode.

The Grid Brief

A 5-minute weekly email: which country opened a new incentive, where the connection queue got longer, what changed in power prices. Written for people deciding where the next megawatt goes.