Experts warn Denmark is planning data centres in the dark

Denmark lacks the information needed to judge how many data centres it needs, experts told DR, as the government works on a national strategy for the sector.

Brit Ross Winthereik, a professor at DTU who researches how people interact with digital technologies, said it is unclear what the country’s existing data centre capacity is used for. Operators do not disclose their customers, what is stored on their servers or which language models are being developed, she said.

That secrecy leaves both the public and the government with little basis for assessing demand, Winthereik said. Without greater transparency, she argued, the industry cannot claim to be critical infrastructure.

“It is not reasonable for the country to face heavy pressure to pursue its green transition if we cannot find out whether these resources are being used for cat videos,” she said.

Tobias Liebetrau, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen’s Center for Military Studies, said technology companies hold far more information than the rest of society. As a result, public debate about the need for data centres takes place on the industry’s terms, he said.

Liebetrau expects demand for data centre capacity to grow if digital development continues at its current pace, particularly depending on the future use of artificial intelligence. But he stressed that this forecast rests on assumptions and that society must decide what role data centres should play.

Anders Søgaard, a professor at the University of Copenhagen and a member of CAISA, the National Centre for AI in Society, said the debate should not be reduced to a simple yes or no on data centres. Different facilities serve different purposes, he said.

He said decisions should address what kinds of data centres Denmark wants, how they connect to the electricity grid, what they should contribute to surrounding communities, what climate requirements they must meet, and what demand and patterns of use they should support. Without those answers, he said, estimating the need for capacity is not meaningful.

A data centre being expanded near Køge belongs to Microsoft. According to Køge Municipality, once fully developed, it will double the municipality’s total electricity consumption.