The European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC) has joined a new Europe-wide initiative that will work on digital and energy solutions for data centres.
On 3 June 2026, the European Commission (EC) published a Strategic Roadmap for Digitalisation and AI in the energy sector.
The roadmap aims to accelerate the rollout of digital solutions, including European artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, in important areas relating to the decarbonisation process, such as electricity grid optimisation, energy efficiency in buildings and industry and demand-side flexibility.
It also addresses the increasingly heavy energy consumption of data centres and how they can be more sustainably integrated into the energy system, as well as the need to implement safeguards to mitigate potential challenges linked to the large-scale deployment of AI solutions in the energy sector.
As interest in AI intensifies, and tech companies roll out new data centre infrastructure, the race is on to secure dependable energy supplies in order to meet demand.
In the framework of the roadmap, EGEC reported that it is involved in a new initiative that aims to support collaboration among European industry associations to foster the sustainable integration of data centres in the energy system.
“This will be done through the definition of an EU model for tripartite agreements between data centre operators, energy-related parties and public authorities,” it noted in a statement.
“Based on numerous examples around the world, we can see that geothermal energy is increasingly being utilised by data centre operators,” it added.
The benefits of geothermal solutions include continuous 24/7 electricity generation, highly efficient geothermal cooling solutions and underground thermal energy storage.
“So there is huge potential for geothermal companies to get more involved in meeting the energy needs of data centres,” the EGEC statement added.
Also on 3 June, EGEC participated in a signing event in Brussels, which was hosted by the European Commissioner for Energy and Housing, Dan Jørgensen.