EnEfG 100% renewable data centre rule: 1 Jan 2027 stands, 2030 delay pending

Summary. On current law, yes. Section 11(5) of Germany's Energy Efficiency Act (EnEfG) requires data centre operators to cover their electricity use on a balance-sheet basis with 100% renewable power from 1 January 2027, up from 50% since 2024. Section 11(1) sets an annual-average PUE of 1.5 from 1 July 2027 and 1.3 from 1 July 2030 for sites operating before 1 July 2026. A government bill, printed paper 21/8027, would move the 100% date to 1 January 2030, relax those limits to 1.6 and 1.4, give new sites four years instead of two to reach PUE 1.2, lift the scope threshold from 300 kW of connected load to 500 kW of installed IT power, and delete customer energy statements. It had its first reading on 24 September and a hearing on 5 October 2026. We found no final vote by 1 November, and the plenary agenda for 4 to 6 November does not list one. PUE breaches can cost up to €100,000; the renewable duty is not on the fine list. Plan for both dates and ask for evidence now.

About this article. For data centre operators, colocation tenants and cloud buyers with workloads in Germany. We read the EnEfG as shown on gesetze-im-internet.de, Bundestag printed paper 21/8027 dated 16 September 2026, parliamentary calendars and agendas, and Commission documents, all checked on 1 November 2026. This is not legal advice, and the bill can still change. No vendor paid for inclusion. Researched with AI assistance and reviewed by our editorial team.

Where the bill stands on 1 November 2026

The amendment is formally the Act to accelerate the transposition of the Energy Efficiency Directive. It transposes the parts of Directive (EU) 2023/1791 that Germany has not yet implemented and cuts national EnEfG rules back towards the EU minimum. The government says it wants to stop over-implementation of EU rules and relieve business.

The dates below come from the printed paper, Bundestag pages, the government's June 2026 reply on the infringement case and law-firm notes.

Still to come: second and third readings, the bill's return to the Bundesrat, signature and publication in the Federal Law Gazette. Until publication the current EnEfG applies, as DENEFF stresses. Article 6 makes the act effective the day after publication, so publication by 31 December 2026 is what would stop the 100% duty starting on 1 January 2027.

The economy committee's agenda for 4 November does not list the bill either. After that week the Bundestag sits 9 to 13 November, 23 to 27 November, 7 to 11 December and 14 to 18 December, and the Bundesrat's remaining 2026 plenaries are 20 November and 18 December. ComputerBase reported on 25 October that adoption was expected in November, and Gleiss Lutz wrote in July that the infringement case pointed to swift adoption. We found no published vote date, and the committee can still amend the text.

Current law against the bill

The table compares the current sections with the bill's text.

The bill renames section 11 from climate-neutral to energy-efficient data centres. The scope test also changes metric as well as number, so recalculate on the new basis before assuming a site moves in or out of scope.

The 100% renewable rule: what it requires and who it binds

Section 11(5) has operators cover their data centres' electricity use on a balance-sheet basis (the statute's word is bilanziell). In practice that is annual accounting, not hourly matching: Annex 3 reports the renewable share for the last full calendar year. The statute names no instrument. The federal government told the Bundestag in December 2024 that certificates under the market-based approach are enough, that suppliers cancel EU guarantees of origin for this, and that power purchase agreements need them cancelled too. Ask your operator which instruments it counts, and for which year.

The duty sits with the operator: whoever owns the data centre or the colocation space, or holds comparable rights of use. In a colocation building that is normally the provider, not the tenant. Tenants running at least 50 kW of non-redundant IT load are IT operators, with management-system duties but not the section 11(5) duty.

By 31 March each year, operators publish and submit data for the previous calendar year, including the renewable share, PUE, reused energy share and water usage. Performance in 2027 therefore shows up in the report due by 31 March 2028.

Enforcement is softer than the headline suggests. Section 19 fines PUE and reuse breaches up to €100,000, but it does not list section 11(5) in either current law or the bill. The duty still binds operators. In our reading, the pressure comes from published reports, from customers who need the data, and from the fine of up to €50,000 for submitting incorrect information. The bill's wider spot checks would let BAFA, the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control, ask for that evidence.

The delay is contested. At the hearing, Julian Bothe of AlgorithmWatch argued that the changes, together with balance-sheet accounting, would raise energy use and CO2 emissions, and Leonard Burtscher of Umweltinstitut München warned that weakening the act might be unconstitutional. Industry is less one-sided than the delay implies: the German Datacenter Association says it is prepared to keep 100% from 1 January 2027, because operators control power purchasing in a way they do not control IT load. In our reading, that makes a committee change to the date conceivable.

PUE limits from 1 July 2027 for existing sites

PUE is the ratio of the whole data centre's annual energy use to the energy used by the IT equipment. A PUE of 1.5 means 0.5 kWh of cooling, power distribution and building load for every 1 kWh of IT.

Current law requires a sustained annual average of 1.5 or lower from 1 July 2027, tightening to 1.3 from 1 July 2030; the bill would set 1.6 and 1.4. The sections we read do not say which 12 months count for a limit starting mid-year, while Annex 3 reports calendar years, so ask counsel how the first period is measured.

For context, the Commission's report on 2024 data puts the average reported EU PUE at 1.36, with national averages from 1.15 to 1.66 and 1.64 for sites of 500 to 1,000 kW. CMS put the average for existing data centres at about 1.7 in 2023. Smaller and older sites face real work under either version. The government puts the one-off relief from the higher limits at about €2.9 billion: 1,280,825 kW of IT × €2,300 per kW = €2,945,897,500, an estimate it calls uncertain.

Gleiss Lutz notes the main practical problem remains: operators often cannot control the efficiency or utilisation of tenants' IT and can influence it only through contracts. Whether design values should count is still live. The Bundesrat asked that new sites also comply if designed to meet the limit at 80% utilisation; the government replied that it had examined a design PUE and left it out. The German Datacenter Association wants load-dependent limits, or failing that 1.3 for new sites. A study by AlgorithmWatch and partners counters that a design value for new sites would need extra energy equal to seven gas power plants in total.

For new sites, the 1.2 limit survives. CMS says the ministry had proposed 1.3, in line with a Commission benchmark of 1.3 to 1.4, but the cabinet kept 1.2 and doubled the ramp-up to four years. CMS also worries that looser limits may keep older facilities running longer instead of being replaced.

Scenarios: vote before or after 1 January 2027

The government's text has no transition rule for a gap in Scenario B. Because section 11(5) carries no fine, the gap risk in our reading is mainly about accurate reporting and customer contracts.

Whatever happens, operators in scope must have covered at least 50% of their 2026 consumption with renewable power, and the report due by 31 March 2027 will show it.

Worked example: what the limits mean for a 2 MW IT load

Take an existing colocation site with an average IT load of 2 MW and a measured annual PUE of 1.55.

• IT energy: 2 MW × 8,760 hours = 17,520 MWh a year.

• Total at PUE 1.55: 17,520 × 1.55 = 27,156 MWh; overhead is 27,156 − 17,520 = 9,636 MWh.

• Current limit of 1.5: maximum 17,520 × 1.5 = 26,280 MWh. The site must cut 876 MWh of overhead, 9.1% of its non-IT energy or 3.2% of the total.

• Bill limit of 1.6: maximum 17,520 × 1.6 = 28,032 MWh. The site complies with 876 MWh of headroom.

• Renewable cover at 50%: 13,578 MWh. At 100%: 27,156 MWh, an extra 13,578 MWh a year, from 2027 under current law or 2030 under the bill. Multiply by your instrument premium to get the budget line.

For a tenant, a 100 kW IT deployment uses 876 MWh of IT energy a year (0.1 MW × 8,760), which implies about 1,358 MWh of facility energy at PUE 1.55. Section 15 gives you the energy directly attributable to you without saying how overhead is shared, so ask for both figures.

What it means for colocation and cloud customers

If you rent space in a German facility and run 50 kW or more of IT, you are an IT operator. Under current law you needed a management system by 1 July 2025, with continuous metering of key components, and certification from 1 January 2026 at 500 kW or more. A missing system can currently be fined up to €100,000. The bill lifts the certification threshold to 1 MW, adds a duty to cooperate with the operator's reporting and takes section 12 off the fine list, though spot checks would still reach it.

Questions to put to your colocation provider before renewal:

1. Which renewable date are you planning for, and what happens to my price in each case?

1. Which instruments do you count, and for which year?

1. What was your annual PUE for 2025, and what is your plan against 1.5 and 1.6?

1. Will my contract carry utilisation or IT-efficiency clauses linked to PUE?

1. Will you keep giving me annual energy figures if section 15 is deleted? If so, put it in the contract.

In our reading, a cloud provider is either the operator or, where it rents colocation space, an IT operator, and an ordinary cloud customer carries no EnEfG duty. You may still need data for your reporting. Microsoft, for example, said in February 2026 that it had matched 100% of its annual global electricity use with renewable energy, counting contracted projects and grid mix. Ask how such global claims map to the German sites you use. If the numbers favour moving workloads, our cloud migration service covers that planning.

Decision table: if you are X, do Y

The EU layer: rating scheme and minimum standards

The Energy Efficiency Directive created a reporting duty for data centres, and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1364 sets the indicators for an EU database. In the first reporting period 770 data centres reported, about 36% of the estimated total.

On 21 September 2026 the Commission issued a delegated regulation creating a common EU rating scheme. The database is to generate electronic labels by 15 August 2027 and yearly after that, using PUE and water classes, and operators must supply the label on request. Arthur Cox says it now faces a two-month scrutiny period by Parliament and Council before publication, entering into force 20 days later.

The Commission also opened a consultation on EU minimum performance standards, running until 14 December 2026, with a proposal planned for the second quarter of 2027. If those standards arrive, German limits may need to align again. In his hearing statement, Sven-Joachim Otto of Ruhr University Bochum, who broadly supported the bill, noted that the German PUE, reuse and power-sourcing rules would still go beyond EU law, and proposed a review within six months of any EU minimum standards.

India and other non-EU buyers

In our reading, the EnEfG binds operators of data centres in Germany, whatever the nationality of their customers. An Indian SaaS company serving EU clients from a Frankfurt colocation cage at 50 kW or more would be an IT operator, and its provider's energy costs are likely to flow into its rack price. Data residency choices should therefore include energy rules in the total cost.

Our note on the EU Data Act switching rules covers the cloud-contract side of EU hosting, our India capacity analysis covers the home-market alternative, and our multi-region resilience service covers splitting workloads. If you invoice German businesses, 1 January 2027 also matters for the B2B e-invoice mandate.

Implementation checklist

1. Confirm scope on both bases.

1. Calculate your 2026 renewable share for the report due by 31 March 2027.

1. Contract 2027 renewable coverage with flexibility to step down if the 2030 date is adopted.

1. Model annual PUE against 1.5 and 1.6 for the period from 1 July 2027.

1. Check tenant contracts and certification status against the 500 kW and 1 MW thresholds.

1. For planning or major modernisation above 1 MW nominal energy input, prepare the waste-heat cost-benefit analysis the bill requires.

1. Track the Bundestag readings, the Bundesrat plenaries on 20 November and 18 December, and the Federal Law Gazette.

1. Follow the EU consultation, which closes on 14 December 2026.

How eCorpIT can help

eCorpIT is a Gurugram-based technology organisation, founded in 2021, assessed at CMMI Level 5 and MSME certified, with senior-led engineering teams working across AWS, Microsoft and Google platforms. Our data centre and cloud networking team helps companies with racks or workloads in German and other EU facilities build PUE and energy dashboards, model the 1.5 and 1.6 scenarios and review colocation contracts for energy data clauses. Talk to us at /contact-us/.

Last updated: 1 November 2026.

References

1. § 11 EnEfG, Klimaneutrale Rechenzentren — Gesetze im Internet

1. Drucksache 21/8027, government bill to accelerate transposition of the Energy Efficiency Directive, 16 September 2026 — Deutscher Bundestag

1. First reading of the bill, 24 September 2026 — Deutscher Bundestag

1. Committee on Economic Affairs and Energy hearing, 5 October 2026 — Deutscher Bundestag

1. Plenary agenda, 104th to 106th sittings, 4 to 6 November 2026, status 30 October 2026 — Deutscher Bundestag

1. § 19 EnEfG, Bußgeldvorschriften — Gesetze im Internet

1. Drucksache 21/6259, government reply including infringement case 2025/0306, 2 June 2026 — Deutscher Bundestag

1. Revision of energy efficiency requirements for data centres, April 2026 — Taylor Wessing

1. EnEfG-Novelle bringt Entlastung für Rechenzentren, 1 July 2026 — CMS

1. Energieeffizienzgesetz (EnEfG): Novelle 2026 erklärt, 1 July 2026 — DENEFF

1. Committee on Economic Affairs and Energy agenda, 57th sitting, 4 November 2026 — Deutscher Bundestag

1. Sitting calendar 2026 — Deutscher Bundestag

1. Dates of plenary sessions — Bundesrat

1. Energieeffizienzgesetz: Regierung will Energieregeln für Rechenzentren lockern, 25 October 2026 — ComputerBase

1. Data centre update: draft bill to amend the Energy Efficiency Act, 2 July 2026 — Gleiss Lutz

1. § 3 EnEfG, Begriffsbestimmungen — Gesetze im Internet

1. § 10 EnEfG, Stichprobenkontrolle — Gesetze im Internet

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1. § 13 EnEfG, Informationspflicht für Betreiber von Rechenzentren — Gesetze im Internet

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1. EnEfG Anlage 3, Informationen von Betreibern von Rechenzentren — Gesetze im Internet

1. Drucksache 20/14340, government reply on the future of German data centres, 18 December 2024 — Deutscher Bundestag

1. EnEfG-Novelle: GDA wirbt in der Bundestagsanhörung für lastabhängige PUE-Werte, 7 October 2026 — German Datacenter Association

1. Report on the energy efficiency of data centres in the EU, COM(2026) 500, 21 September 2026 — European Commission

1. Der Bundestag verabschiedet Energieeffizienzgesetz: das erwartet Rechenzentrumsbetreiber, 2023 — CMS

1. AlgorithmWatch kritisiert im Wirtschaftsausschuss, 2 October 2026 — AlgorithmWatch

1. A milestone achievement in our journey to carbon negative, 18 February 2026 — Microsoft

1. Energy performance of data centres — European Commission

1. Delegated regulation on a common Union rating scheme for data centres, C(2026) 3472, Council document 13444/26, 21 September 2026 — Council of the European Union

1. Data centres: new regulation on rating scheme and consultation on minimum performance standards — Arthur Cox

1. Written statement by Prof. Dr. Sven-Joachim Otto for the hearing of 5 October 2026 — Deutscher Bundestag