Introduction \u2013 Poland on the map of European data centres<\/p>\n
The ever-increasing volume of data being processed, the growth of electronic services, the expanding practical application of AI and the growing use of colocation services are all driving a rapid rise in demand for data centres worldwide.<\/p>\n
Poland is emerging as a leader in the data centre market in the CEE region and is rapidly strengthening its position in Europe. The Polish market currently comprises around 140 projects, with a total installed capacity exceeding 220 MW \u2014 accounting for over a third of all such infrastructure in Central and Eastern Europe. According to analysts\u2019 estimates, if the current pace of expansion continues, total installed capacity could reach 600 MW by around 2030. Plans for several large-scale (hyperscale) projects have also been reported: a 500 MW data centre is to be built near Be\u0142chat\u00f3w. In early 2026, plans were announced for a data centre campus with a target capacity of 3.2 GW in northern Poland, near the site of the country’s planned first nuclear power station (the first phase involves the construction of data centres with a combined capacity of 800 MW).<\/p>\n
Key investors currently operating or expanding in Poland include Microsoft (expanding its campus near Warsaw), Google Cloud (expanding its infrastructure in Warsaw), Equinix, Vantage Data Centers and EdgeConnex.<\/p>\n
Most data centres are still being built in the Warsaw area, which accounts for approximately 74% of the country\u2019s capacity and 70% of its commercial colocation and hosting space. Data centres are also being built near other major urban centres (such as Krak\u00f3w and Pozna\u0144) and in more remote locations, as illustrated by the Be\u0142chat\u00f3w example. Factors favouring construction away from major cities include greater land availability, the possibility of streamlined administrative procedures and lower construction costs.<\/p>\n
Technical barriers \u2013 Availability of connection capacity and network infrastructure<\/p>\n
The greatest technical barrier to the sector\u2019s development is the availability of electricity connection capacity. Warsaw faces an estimated grid capacity deficit of 150\u2013200 MW, and obtaining a medium-voltage connection to the Warsaw grid can take up to 18 months. Developers often need to co-finance the modernisation of transformer stations, at costs ranging from EUR 2 million to EUR 15 million depending on location, which can delay project completion by up to 18 months.<\/p>\n
The most common reason for rejecting data centre investments in Poland is the lack of available connection capacity.<\/p>\n
The transmission system operator PSE (Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne) is under increasing pressure: on the one hand, renewable energy applications are awaiting connection; on the other, applications from data centre operators are reaching record levels of 500, 800 and 1,000 MW.<\/p>\n
Additional barriers include the high price of electricity for large consumers and the still-significant share of coal in the energy mix, which hinders meeting ESG targets. Unstable and unpredictable energy prices may also negatively affect investment profitability.<\/p>\n
Ambitious remedial measures are under way. PSE is investing approximately PLN 64 billion (approx. USD 16 billion) in new high-voltage lines by 2034, comprising 4,800\u20135,000 km of new 400 kV routes. This investment is intended to enable the supply of approximately 3 GW of power to data centres by 2035 and up to 5 GW by 2040. The resulting connection capacity (up to 1,200 MW by 2034) is cited by industry experts as one of the key strengths of the Polish market.<\/p>\n
Poland has good availability of international fibre-optic routes, which is one of the factors attracting investors. However, access to sites near energy and fibre-optic infrastructure can be problematic, particularly outside the largest conurbations.<\/p>\n
Legal and planning barriers<\/p>\n
A significant legal issue for investors and data centre designers is the absence of a specific definition of such facilities in Polish legislation. Data centres are specialised projects whose construction and operation differ materially from those of warehousing or manufacturing facilities \u2014 they require high levels of electricity and cooling, involve no manufacturing, generate limited vehicle traffic and do not need large car parks. Despite this, under Polish law, data centres are generally classified as manufacturing, warehousing or other industrial facilities. It cannot, however, be ruled out that certain data centres may be classified as service facilities (for example, centres providing colocation services).<\/p>\n
Doubts may therefore arise as to whether the construction of a data centre is permitted on a given site covered by a general or local spatial development plan. The classification of a data centre may also affect the need to obtain an environmental decision or other decisions related to the building process. Polish court rulings indicate that data centres should not be treated as industrial (manufacturing) facilities but rather as buildings of a warehousing nature, possibly also with certain characteristics of service buildings.<\/p>\n
Given the specific requirements of data centre construction \u2014 notably the provision of power and water-based cooling \u2014 more detailed regulation under Polish law is expected in the near future. This may include restrictions on location, as has been the case with large-scale retail centres.<\/p>\n
Restrictions of this kind already exist in certain European countries with particularly high concentrations of data centres, such as the Netherlands. The current absence of such administrative restrictions in Poland is therefore a specific, albeit perhaps temporary, advantage.<\/p>\n
This article is for information purposes only and provides an overview of available market sources. It does not constitute legal advice. Should you have any questions regarding investment in the data centre sector in Poland, please do not hesitate to contact the Bird & Bird team.<\/p>\n
Sources: PLDCA, Ecosystem Guide Poland 2025; CBRE, European Data Centres Report; Spectis, Data Centre Construction Market in Poland 2026\u20132031; datacenterHawk, HawkTalks \u2013 Gateway Poland 2026; Cundall Blog, June 2026; Prime East, July 2026; Successful Investing in Poland, November 2025; Poland Insight, March 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Introduction \u2013 Poland on the map of European data centres The ever-increasing volume of data being processed, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[114,85,46],"class_list":["post-653635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}