Holbæk pauses data centre project, but developer presses on

Holbæk Municipality will halt planning for a proposed data centre after local protests, but the developer says it will continue working on the project, DR reports.

A majority on the municipal council agreed to stop planning until the government presents a new national data centre strategy, expected before the end of the year. Local residents celebrated the decision, but EMCH, the construction company behind the project, said it still believes the proposal fits Denmark’s future plans for data centres.

EMCH sales and marketing manager Jesper Cordsen said pausing the planning was reasonable while claims about data centres were checked. But he said the local opposition was based on a mistaken understanding of their effects and that the council’s decision rested on a factually incorrect basis.

Eva Anker Lund, chair of the municipality’s Plan and Business Committee, said the decision reflected public concern, not an endorsement of claims in a citizens’ proposal. The proposal will be considered by the committee next week, and the municipal administration will check its factual basis before politicians examine its details.

The planned data centre would be built on a field in Langerød near Holbæk, use up to 240 megawatts of electricity and be fully developed by 2034. Cordsen said EMCH wants to build one of Europe’s greenest data centres, reuse excess heat, create jobs and training opportunities, and provide more land for nature.

Lund said the municipality would wait for the national action plan, which she said should guide how data centres are approved and planned across Denmark.