Chapter 02 · Foundations

Regulation

Country-level legal bases for data-centre waste-heat utilisation. This chapter maps Directive (EU) 2023/1791 and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1364 to the national transpositions in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the Nordics. For each Member State it names the act, the competent authority, the thresholds and the applicable deadlines.

Note

This chapter is a working reference for operators and auditors. It does not substitute for legal advice on a specific filing. Where the national legal text diverges from our summary, the national text controls. Corrections or updates on deadlines and implementing regulations are welcome at /en/contact.

1. EU baseline

Two legal acts provide the common floor: the recast Energy Efficiency Directive (EU) 2023/1791 and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1364 of 14 March 2024.

1.1 Directive (EU) 2023/1791 (EED)

Article 12 obliges Member States to require data centres with an installed IT power demand of 500 kilowatts or more to file annual reports against a common European template. Article 26 establishes a general obligation to use waste heat in heating and cooling networks and sets an annual increase of 2.2 percentage points of renewable energy and unavoidable waste heat through 2030. The transposition deadline was 11 October 2025.

1.2 Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1364

The regulation operationalises Article 12. Annexes I and II contain the binding reporting schema for floor area, IT load, energy consumption by source, renewable share, water usage, battery capacity, waste heat reused and grid service contribution. The measurement basis is the Energy Reuse Factor under CEN/CENELEC EN 50600-4-6. The first submission cycle was 15 September 2024, subsequent cycles annually by 15 May.

2. National transpositions

The sections below summarise the state of transposition in the Member States covered by Ardor. Status tags reflect the platform's coverage level, not the legislative status of each country.

🇩🇪Germany

Live

Legal basis

Act	Energy Efficiency Act (EnEfG), in force since 18 November 2023
Sections	§§ 11, 12, 16, 17 EnEfG
EU basis	Transposition of Directive (EU) 2023/1791 and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1364

Competent authority

Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA), Referat 511 (Federal Agency for Energy Efficiency, BfEE), Eschborn

Reporting threshold

Data centres with an installed IT power demand of 300 kW or more (§ 13 EnEfG). Additional obligations apply from 500 kW (§ 17 EnEfG).

Reuse obligation

Data centres of 1 MW and above: Energy Reuse Factor (ERF) of 10 % from 1 July 2026, 15 % from 1 July 2027, 20 % from 1 July 2028. Evidence via the Data-Centre Register and the Waste Heat Platform.

Deadlines

Annual report by 31 March of the following year. Initial submission to the Waste Heat Platform was 1 January 2024; first ERF verification by 31 March 2027.

Platform

Rechenzentren-Register (BAFA) + Plattform für Abwärme (BfEE). As of January 2025: 2,668 companies, 19,065 waste-heat potentials, 160 TWh/yr aggregated.

Ardor status: Ardor covers 32 German facilities with complete EnEfG report generation.

🇫🇷France

Port in preparation

Legal basis

Act	Loi n° 2025-391 du 30 avril 2025 (DDADUE)
Decree	Décret n° 2025-1382 du 29 décembre 2025
Codification	Article L.236-2 of the Code de l'énergie

Competent authority

Direction générale de l'énergie et du climat (DGEC), Ministère de la Transition écologique

Reporting threshold

Data centres of 500 kW IT load and above. Annual public disclosure of floor area, energy consumption, installed power, waste-heat utilisation.

Reuse obligation

Data centres of 1 MW and above must valorise waste heat via a heating or cooling network, meet the 0.20 numerical indicator, or document a cost-benefit exemption.

Deadlines

First submission was 15 May 2024; compliance deadline was 11 October 2025. Subsequent reporting annually by 15 May.

Platform

National submission to DGEC, complemented by the EU database per Annex II of Delegated Regulation 2024/1364.

Ardor status: Ardor covers 15 French facilities. The port for Code de l'énergie references, a DGEC-ready template and French translation is underway. District-heating data from France Chaleur, Fonds Chaleur (ADEME) and SNCU is integrated.

🇳🇱Netherlands

Port in preparation

Legal basis

Implementation	Transposition of Directive (EU) 2023/1791 via RVO reporting
Framework	Omgevingswet (Environment Act, 2024)
Measures	Erkende Maatregelenlijst (Recognised Energy-Saving Measures List)

Competent authority

Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (RVO)

Reporting threshold

Data centres of 500 kW IT load and above (EU baseline). Additional investigation obligation from 50,000 kWh/yr electricity or 25,000 m³/yr gas.

Reuse obligation

Data centres of 1 MW and above: waste-heat utilisation or documented exemption (EU baseline per Art. 26 EED).

Deadlines

Annual submission by 15 May. A standalone data-centre act is not yet published; regulatory pressure has risen since the Leitmotiv audit in 2026 (104 of ~160 facilities submitted, several hyperscalers filed blank forms).

Platform

RVO portal feeding into the EU database.

Ardor status: Ardor covers 20 Dutch facilities. The Dutch Data Center Association is a candidate channel partner. District-heating data: Ennatuurlijk, Vattenfall NL, HVC, Stadsverwarming Purmerend, Eneco and municipal utilities.

🇮🇪Ireland

Groundwork

Legal basis

EED transposition	In preparation via the Interdepartmental Working Group
Regulation	CRU decision, December 2025
Grid rules	EirGrid and ESB Networks rules by end-March 2026

Competent authority

Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU); Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) for monitoring

Reporting threshold

Data centres of 500 kW IT load and above (EU baseline).

Reuse obligation

New data centres must supply electricity back to the grid after six years and source 80 % of consumption from renewables. Waste-heat utilisation is secondary given limited district-heating infrastructure; exemption on grounds of technical infeasibility is the default.

Deadlines

Annual EED submission from 15 May 2026. CRU implementation rules expected by end-March 2026.

Platform

gov.ie and SEAI monitoring.

Ardor status: Ardor positions its Irish output as a CRU compliance dossier and infeasibility evidence package, not as a district-heating matching tool.

🇮🇹Italy

Hold

Legal basis

Status	11 October 2025 transposition deadline missed
Draft	Legislative decree in public consultation
Adjacent	Decreto Energia 2025
Management system	ISO 50001 mandatory for companies above 85 TJ/yr from 11 October 2027

Competent authority

Expected: MASE (Ministero dell'Ambiente e della Sicurezza Energetica) and GSE (Gestore dei Servizi Energetici)

Reporting threshold

Data centres of 500 kW IT load and above from 15 May 2026 (EU baseline).

Reuse obligation

Data centres of 1 MW and above (EU baseline per Art. 26 EED).

Deadlines

Annual EED submission from 15 May 2026. National deadlines track the legislative decree.

Platform

EU database via MASE/GSE (expected).

Ardor status: Ardor holds seed data for 6 Italian sites. District-heating sources: AIRU, A2A (Milan, Brescia), Iren (Turin, Genoa, Parma), Hera (Bologna, Emilia-Romagna).

🇪🇸Spain

Hold

Legal basis

Status	Draft Real Decreto in public consultation since 15 September 2025; draft published 16 December 2025
Requirements	PUE below 1.2, NIS2 cybersecurity, mandatory emissions reporting

Competent authority

Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico (MITECO)

Reporting threshold

Data centres of 500 kW IT load and above (EU baseline).

Reuse obligation

Data centres of 1 MW and above (EU baseline per Art. 26 EED). Spanish requirements stricter than the EU baseline.

Deadlines

With adoption of the Real Decreto, expected Q2–Q3 2026.

Platform

MITECO portal, feeding into the EU database.

Ardor status: Ardor holds seed data for 6 Spanish sites. District-heating sources: ADHAC, Ecoenergies Barcelona, Veolia España, Engie España.

🇸🇪🇩🇰🇫🇮Nordics (Sweden, Denmark, Finland)

Hold

Legal basis

Transposition	Directive (EU) 2023/1791 via national energy agencies
Context	District heating widespread; waste-heat recovery already practised voluntarily at scale

Competent authority

Energimyndigheten (SE), Energistyrelsen (DK), Energiavirasto (FI)

Reporting threshold

Data centres of 500 kW IT load and above (EU baseline).

Reuse obligation

Data centres of 1 MW and above (EU baseline per Art. 26 EED).

Deadlines

Annual EED submission from 15 May 2026 for the 2025 reporting year.

Platform

National energy agencies feeding into the EU database.

Ardor status: Ardor positions the Nordics as compliance automation over existing voluntary practice rather than methodology validation. Examples: Google Hamina (≈ 80 % of local DH), Microsoft Espoo (≈ 40 %), Stockholm Exergi with 30+ connected data centres. Ardor holds seed data for 24 sites (SE/NO/FI).

3. Non-EU sites

Norway and Switzerland are carried on the Ardor platform under bilateral recognition but are not bound by the EED. The United Kingdom is not bound post-Brexit either; ESOS and an emerging Energy Security Bill apply there. For these countries Ardor maintains facility data in the marketplace but does not produce EU-conformant compliance reports.

4. Deadline calendar

Date	Event
2024-09-15	First EU-wide submission under Del. Reg. 2024/1364
2025-05-15	Second EU-wide annual submission (reporting year 2024)
2025-10-11	EED 2023/1791 transposition deadline (France: compliance deadline)
2026-05-15	Annual submission (reporting year 2025); first mandatory cycle for Italy and the Nordics
2026-07-01	Start of the 10 % ERF quota for new-build German data centres ≥ 1 MW (§ 11 EnEfG)
2027-03-31	First ERF verification by BAFA for Germany
2027-05-15	Annual submission (reporting year 2026)
2027-07-01	German ERF quota rises to 15 %
2028-07-01	German ERF quota rises to 20 %

5. Further reading

Methodology: calculation model, data sources and verification procedure.
WHC white paper: discussion paper on the European Waste Heat Certificate.
Directive (EU) 2023/1791 (EUR-Lex).
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1364 (EUR-Lex).
EnEfG (gesetze-im-internet.de).

Last updated: April 2026. Document version 1.0. National transpositions change; please report deviations via /en/contact.