Terna Faces 100 GW of Data Center Grid Requests in Italy as CEO Warns of Speculative Demand

Italy's grid operator Terna has logged connection requests for nearly 600 data centre projects exceeding 100 GW in total, a volume that chief executive Pasqualino Monti says surpasses what the country can realistically build.

A warning from the grid operator

Speaking on Wednesday at an event hosted by business school RCS Academy, Monti cautioned that the requests "far exceed the real capacity to implement the projects." Italy's task, he argued, is to back the sector's expansion "efficiently and gradually" rather than chase every application.

Applications have more than doubled in a year

The current tally represents a sharp acceleration. In May 2025, connection requests to Terna stood at 42 GW. In just over a year, the requested capacity has more than doubled, a sign of how quickly developers and investors are seeking to stake out positions in the Italian data centre market.

Where Italy's data centres sit today

The country operates roughly 205 data centres, concentrated mainly in the northern region of Lombardy. Milan alone accounts for 68% of national data centre power capacity, according to the Data Center Observatory at Milan's Politecnico University.

The Observatory also estimates the city attracts 23% of announced data centre investments across Europe, placing it among the industry's leading European hubs.

Confirmed investment through 2028

The pipeline of actual projects continues to grow alongside the surge in applications. Politecnico's Data Center Observatory expects 83 new data centre projects in Italy through 2028, representing up to USD 28 billion in investment.

Taken together, the nearly 600 requests exceeding 100 GW and the USD 28 billion project pipeline illustrate both the magnitude of interest in Italian data centre capacity and the distance between announced ambitions and what may ultimately be delivered, the very gap Monti's remarks sought to underline.