As of 15 May this year, all EU countries are obliged under Directive 1791/2023 to report to the EU data centres with consumption above 500 MW, said Cristian Ilie, Director of the IT Directorate of the Ministry of Energy.

Ilie pointed out that, unlike other directives that enter into force 1-2 years after adoption, the European Directive 1791/2023 on data centres entered into force immediately due to the massive urgency. “Reporting is detailed and mandatory immediately. Data centres need to focus on consumption efficiency and cooling systems,” Ilie said, at the DigitALL 2024 conference organized by Energynomics.

For example, the high energy consumption of data centres has led Chinese authorities to limit the operation of some blockchain mining centres.

Nationally, energy consumption for the digital sector is growing and Romania is trying to make energy as green as possible through energy efficiency programmes and renewable energy production.

“Energy consumption will be increasing and we are trying to make energy as green as possible through energy efficiency programmes and renewable energy production,” he continued.

DigitALL 2024 was organized by Energynomics, in partnership with reputed organizations such as the CIO Council, with the support of our partners: Corning, Datacor, Eaton Electric, Enevo Group, Procesio, Siemens, Sixt, Vertiv.