据穆迪分析，预计到2035年，数据中心将消耗欧洲越来越多的电力，这有可能推高消费者电价，促使各国政府对数据中心实施价格上限或相关限制措施。这家信用评级机构正密切监测这一趋势对数据中心运营商及电力网络产生的财务影响。据预测，尽管目前数据中心群的电力消耗量尚属有限，但到2035年它们将成为电力需求增长的主要驱动力，届时电力企业及电网运营商必须加大发电能力及电网扩容方面的投入。
Datacenters are forecast to consume a growing share of Europe's electricity by 2035, potentially pushing up consumer prices and prompting governments to impose price caps or restrictions on bit barns, according to Moody's. The credit rating agency is keeping tabs on the financial implications for datacenter operators and electricity networks. It predicts that while power consumption by server farms is relatively modest today, these facilities are set to become major drivers of electricity demand by 2035, requiring utilities and network operators to invest in generation and grid capacity.
2025年时，在欧洲多数主要市场中，数据中心的电力消耗占比仍处于“个位数的低水平”，平均约为2.5%。不过在英国、法国等主要市场，此类设施的规模与数量预计都将快速增长，从而显著提升其电力消耗占比。报告预测，到2035年，数据中心在法国与英国的电力需求占比将至少达到5.7%；而在荷兰这一比例可能升至17%，爱尔兰甚至可能高达30%。
Massive compute sheds still accounted for "a low single-digit share" of electricity in most of the largest European markets in 2025, typically about 2.5 percent. But some of the major markets such as the UK and France are set to see accelerating growth in the number and size of facilities that could substantially increase their share of electricity consumption. The report estimates datacenters will account for at least 5.7 percent of electricity demand in France and the UK by 2035, but could be as high as 17 percent for the Netherlands and 30 percent for Ireland.
不过爱尔兰属于特殊情况：2025年其数据中心的电力消耗占比已达23%，而2015年时这一数值仅为5%。此外，欧盟已设定目标：力争在五至七年内将全欧盟范围内的数据中心容量提升三倍以上，并计划推动此类项目从德国、爱尔兰、法国、荷兰等主要市场向北欧及南欧的次级市场拓展。这意味着需要建设更多发电设施，同时扩建电网以输送新增电力。
The latter country is regarded as an outlier, however, as datacenters already made up 23 percent of Ireland's electricity consumption in 2025 – up from just 5 percent in 2015. In addition, the EU has set out the goal of more than tripling the bloc's datacenter capacity within five to seven years, and wants to diversify where such projects are sited beyond the primary markets such as Germany, Ireland, France, and the Netherlands to secondary markets in the Nordics and southern Europe. This means more power generation will be needed, plus expansion of the grid networks to carry the extra energy to where it is required.
穆迪指出，短期内这可能会给电网运营商的财务状况带来压力，而欧洲多数地区的监管机制又使得资本支出的回报周期较长，进一步加剧了这一压力。
Moody's says this has the potential to put pressure on grid operators' balance sheets in the short term, compounded by the lag in recovering higher capital spending under many European regulatory regimes.
穆迪的报告指出，相较于配电网络，输电网络所面临的压力更为显著。这是因为数据中心运营商仅需承担接入电网所需的费用。报告还列举了公用事业企业采取的一些创新举措：例如重新利用原有化石燃料发电厂的场地来建设服务器集群，因为这些场地早已具备电网接入条件——英国政府规划的多个人工智能发展区中至少就有一个采用了这一模式；此外，这些企业还与开发商合作建设新设施并为其供电。
This pressure is more pronounced for transmission networks than distribution networks because datacenter operators are required to fund only the cost of the connection to the grid, the report by Moody's notes. It highlights some novel approaches adopted by utilities, such as repurposing old fossil-fuel plant sites for server farm projects because of their existing grid connections – as is said to be the case with at least one of the UK government's AI Growth Zones – and partnering with developers to build new facilities and supply them with power.
穆迪预测，电网扩建成本以及供需失衡现象将共同推动能源价格上涨。报告指出，历史上此类情况往往会促使政府出台相关政策以减轻消费者的经济负担。目前已有部分国家政府考虑为终端用户实施减税或提供额外补贴；同时越来越多的输电网络运营商开始要求项目方提供财务担保，以此过滤掉那些投机性或重复建设的项目。
The cost of expanding power grids, together with supply-demand imbalances, is set to push energy prices higher, Moody's forecasts. Historically, this has prompted political measures to limit the financial burden borne by customers, it says. Some governments are already considering tax cuts and additional subsidies for end users, while a growing number of transmission networks are starting to demand financial guarantees to screen out speculative or duplicative projects.
正如我们夏季时所报道的那样，英国政府也正在斟酌这一措施。展望未来，政府干预手段可能进一步升级，例如实施电价上限、征收额外税费或附加费。穆迪以爱尔兰为例：该国公用事业监管委员会规定，凡申请接入10兆伏安及以上规模电网的数据中心运营商，必须在现场或周边地区配备相应的发电或储能设施，且每年所需电力的至少80%须由爱尔兰本土的可再生能源项目提供。
The UK government is mulling over this measure, as we reported during the summer. Looking ahead, intervention could become more intrusive through measures such as electricity price caps, additional taxes, or levies. Moody's cites Ireland as an example, where the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) replaced a moratorium on new datacenter grid connections with a framework under which operators applying for a grid connection rated at 10 MVA or more must provide matching power generation or storage capacity on-site or nearby, and meet at least 80 percent of their annual electricity demand through additional renewable projects in Ireland.
而在美国，特朗普总统则推出了“用户权益保护承诺”，试图缓解民众对数据中心建设及其导致的电费上涨日益强烈的不满情绪。
In America, President Trump brought in a Ratepayer Protection Pledge to try to defuse growing voter unhappiness at datacenters and their effects on energy bills.
这项承诺如今也适用于公用事业公司、数据中心建设方以及各州政府；各方均保证不会提高民众的账单费用，以支付新增能源供应及电网基础设施所需的开支。穆迪预计，若数据中心建设势头持续不减，将会有更多欧洲国家效仿美国和爱尔兰的做法，对数据中心的用电需求实施干预措施。®
The pledge now covers utility companies, bit barn developers, and state governments with a pinky promise that citizens' bills won't rise to pay for all the extra energy and grid infrastructure needed. Moody's expects more European governments to follow the US and Ireland in intervening over datacenter power demand if expansion continues on its current trajectory. ®