At a glance
- Hernström, Alight's chief revenue officer, made the case in a Data Center Dynamics opinion piece on Oct. 31.
- Spanish curtailment reached about 16% of solar generation in the first quarter of 2026, double the level a year earlier, Hernström said.
- For data centers, the connection date and the firm capacity behind a project matter more than the volume of renewable supply contracted to it, Hernström said.
About 20% of planned data center projects face delay from electricity supply bottlenecks, an International Energy Agency estimate cited by Alight's Johan Hernström shows. Hernström, Alight's chief revenue officer, made the case in a Data Center Dynamics opinion piece on Oct. 31.
Spanish curtailment reached about 16% of solar generation in the first quarter of 2026, double the level a year earlier, Hernström said. That is one megawatt-hour in six of potential output lost from plants whose capital cost is already fixed, and he said investors responded by offloading assets "at a fraction of their original valuations."
For data centers, the connection date and the firm capacity behind a project matter more than the volume of renewable supply contracted to it, Hernström said.
Europe does not lack generation. At peak times renewables produce more electricity than the continent can use, often at low cost, Hernström said. The grid cannot absorb and move the power, and battery storage remains insufficient at scale. Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin — the five hubs he names — are all hitting capacity limits.
Capacity grew faster than grid, storage or local demand could absorb, so prices turned negative during peak solar hours, Hernström said. Deployment is now slowing across Europe because projects were built without coordination with the systems around them.
Hernström said data centers are following the same pattern faster and with more at stake. He named two risks: Europe falling behind in the global AI race, and data centers turning to other power sources, which would undermine the renewable capacity built to serve them.
He points to North America, where Microsoft has structured a 20-year agreement to restart a nuclear facility in the United States. Hyperscalers already contract their own supply. As Private Wealth Daily previously reported, Microsoft signed two Japan solar PPAs with Macquarie's Blueleaf, extending a relationship covering 540 MW of wind and solar in the UK, Spain and India.
Reported by the Energy Transition desk from Data Center Dynamics. Published . Corrections