Italy's electricity grid operator Terna has received connection requests for nearly 600 data centre projects totalling more than 100 gigawatts (GW), according to CEO Pasqualino Monti, who cautioned that the volume of applications far outstrips the country's realistic ability to deliver such projects.

Requests far exceed real implementation capacity

Monti made the remarks on Wednesday at an event organised by business school RCS Academy. The connection requests, he said, "far exceed the real capacity to implement the projects," adding that the challenge for Italy was to support the sector's growth "efficiently and gradually."

The figure marks a steep rise from May 2025, when connection requests stood at 42 GW, according to Terna. In just over a year, the volume of requested grid capacity has grown by more than double, underscoring the pace at which developers and investors are seeking to position data centre capacity in Italy.

Italy's data centre landscape

Italy currently hosts about 205 data centres, most of which are bundled in the northern region of Lombardy. The concentration is particularly acute in the Milan area, which accounts for 68% of the country's data-centre power capacity, according to the Data Center Observatory at Milan's Politecnico University.

The Observatory also calculates that Milan accounts for 23% of announced data centre sector investments across Europe, a share that positions the city among the continent's most significant hubs for the industry.

Investment pipeline through 2028

Beyond the surge in grid connection applications, the pipeline of confirmed and expected projects continues to expand. The Data Center Observatory at Politecnico University estimates that 83 new data centre projects, representing up to USD 28 billion in investment, are expected in Italy through 2028.

The combination of nearly 600 active connection requests exceeding 100 GW and an expected wave of projects through the end of the decade illustrates both the scale of interest in Italian data centre capacity and the gap between announced ambitions and what may ultimately be built, a gap that Monti's comments highlighted.

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