The Norwegian Government has announced it would slow the rapid expansion of energy-intensive data centres, citing the risk that unchecked growth driven by artificial intelligence (AI) could strain the country’s power system and push up electricity prices.
On November 9, State-owned grid operator Statnett said it had temporarily stopped reserving new grid capacity for data centres. Existing connections are not affected.
The pause is expected to last while Statnett draws up new technical requirements, ending no later than August 1, 2027. The measure is intended to protect system stability while new rules are developed.
Digitalisation minister Torgeir Micaelsen said the aim was “to gain more control over the growth of data centres, and ensure that we get the data centres we actually need”.
The planned licensing system would prioritise facilities that support defence, police, emergency services, health care, mobile networks and the financial system. Micaelsen said the scheme should be ready by autumn 2027 and would also cover existing data centres, with transitional arrangements.
Norway would still support domestic AI capacity, but access to land and power would be restricted for large global cloud providers and cryptocurrency operations.
Crypto-related centres would not be regarded as serving the public interest.
Energy minister Terje Aasland noted that Statnett had received connection requests this year for 26,000 megawatts (MW) of new capacity, which is more than Norway’s current peak demand, with data centres accounting for about three-quarters of the applications.
Already, 800 MW of data-centre capacity is connected, 4,200 MW has been reserved and a further 9,100 MW sits in the capacity queue, according to Statnett.
Under the new approach, data centres may be required to cover more of the grid costs they create and could be asked to build their own power plants, including offshore wind or gas-fired generation with carbon capture and storage.
The government also plans to review whether the State should take ownership stakes in strategically important projects.
Norwegian data centres consumed 3.2 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity in 2025, roughly four times the volume of three years earlier, according to a report by Menon Economics commissioned by the digitalisation ministry. That is about 2.3 per cent of national consumption.
Official projections by the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) indicate that approved connections alone could push consumption to about 25 TWh by 2035, raising the prospect of a power deficit in a country that currently enjoys a surplus from hydropower.
NVE puts that surplus at about 15 TWh in a normal year and has warned that prices in 2035 could be up to 35-55 per cent higher than it had previously forecast.
The minority Labour Party government had faced pressure from five opposition parties seeking a halt to new data centres.
Business association Abelia warned the licensing scheme could cause “political and bureaucratic chaos”.
The measures place Norway among a growing number of countries seeking to manage the electricity demand created by the global AI build-out while protecting domestic energy security and critical infrastructure.
French President Emmanuel Macron has said he expects €93 billion in foreign investment to flow into the country, much of it earmarked for artificial intelligence (AI) and data centres. https://t.co/8WTzaCLJqM
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) June 1, 2026
