Policy / Opening up
France
France has created a fast-track status for major data centres and is steering projects to prepared sites.
A simplification law promulgated on 26 May 2026 lets certain data centres be recognised as projects of major national interest, with streamlined procedures, while also allowing refusal where local water is insufficient. The government has identified 63 sites it regards as suitable. The grid operator reports very large reserved capacity, so the constraint is increasingly connection timing rather than permission.
Power and grid
RTE reported in May 2026 about 18GW of capacity reserved for roughly 80 data centre projects, up from about 5GW across 40 projects at the end of 2024.
The rules and programmes
| Instrument | Kind | Status | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Law on simplifying economic life, data centre provisions | Law | in force | Promulgated 26 May 2026; allows projects of major national interest status for some data centres and refusal on water grounds. |
| Government data centre site programme | Programme | in force | Meeting of 30 January 2026: 63 sites identified, 26 already secured by a project holder, five fast-track sites with over 700MW connection potential in three to four years. |
Checked against the primary sources linked above on 2 October 2026. Due for review by 1 January 2027. This is a summary, not legal advice. If something is out of date, tell us.