In 2026 Finland tightened its data centre regulation on four fronts while the pipeline of planned projects hit a record.
Yle and the Confederation of Finnish Industries have reported that 145 data centre projects have been announced across the country, 60 of them launched this year. Google alone has committed €13 billion over two years to Finnish digital infrastructure, which it calls its biggest investment in Europe.
Operators now face a higher electricity tax, a legal duty to use waste heat, a draft grid law that places large data centres behind smaller users, and an environmental regulator that has stopped work at two Google sites. Each rule applies at a different stage of a project’s life.
LVV Suspends Preparatory Work at Google’s Muhos and Kajaani Sites
In letters Google says it received on October 6, Finland’s Licensing and Supervision Authority (LVV) ordered Google subsidiary Tuike Finland to suspend preparatory work at its Muhos and Kajaani sites until the environmental impact assessments (EIAs) are complete. About 330 hectares had been felled or prepared at Muhos and just under 200 hectares at the Kajaani-Otanmäki site. Planning, measurements, and soil surveys may continue. The suspension had to take effect by October 23, and LVV can initiate an enforcement procedure, backed by a conditional fine, if Tuike does not comply.
Finnish police has now opened a criminal investigation into the land clearance at the sites, reported on October 29.
Google says the logging followed the Forest Act. Tiina Paloniitty of the University of Helsinki told Data Center Knowledge that compliance with forestry rules does not satisfy EIA requirements, and she described LVV’s intervention as “highly unusual.” The projects have not been cancelled, but LVV has not said when the assessments will be finished.
Large Data Centres Drop to Group 3 in the Draft Grid Queue
Fingrid, the national transmission operator, has observed 5 GW of agreed grid connections in Finland, which would raise national electricity consumption by nearly 40% from 2025 levels if all were built. Under the current Electricity Market Act, network operators have no legal basis to rank connection requests by priority.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment published a draft amendment on September 18, closed the consultation on October 9, and is targeting entry into force on January 1, 2027. The draft sorts consumption and storage requests into four groups when capacity is scarce:
| Priority group | Scope (draft) | Data-centre threshold | Processing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group 1 (highest) | Consumption sites up to 3 MW; critical societal sites; small storage ≤100 kVA | Up to 1 MW | First-come, first-served year-round; capacity reserved for growth |
| Group 2 | Consumption sites 3–100 MW | 1–10 MW | Batches twice a year |
| Group 3 | Consumption sites >100 MW | Above 10 MW | Batches twice a year |
| Group 4 | Other electricity storage | — | Batches twice a year |
Data centres face lower capacity thresholds than other loads. A group 3 data centre (above 10 MW) can move into group 2 by committing flexible generation capacity or demand response equal to at least 80 % of its peak power. Smaller flexibility commitments (from 10 %) and production commitments (covering at least 50 % of annual consumption from new plant in the same area) improve ranking inside a group. Groups 2–4 are processed in batches twice a year; the first batch must be handled by 31 December 2027. The rules apply to requests filed before the law takes effect if no binding connection agreement has been signed, so projects already in the queue will be re-sorted.
Countries including Denmark have chosen different designs, which we have looked at in more detail here.
Electricity Tax Moves from 0.05 to 2.24 Cents per kWh
Act 1352/2025, based on government bill HE 156/2025, moved data centre electricity from tax class II to the general class I on July 1, 2026, according to the DC Comply regulatory tracker. The government’s announcement set the rate change at 0.05 to 2.24 cents per kWh, an increase of roughly 45 times, and estimated that the change would raise about €47 million a year.
A 100 MW site running at a 90% load factor consumes about 788 GWh a year. At the class I rate, that site pays roughly €17.7 million in electricity tax annually, compared with about €0.4 million under class II. A 200 MW phase at the same load would pay about €35 million.
The government had planned a replacement subsidy scheme. Finance Minister Riikka Purra announced on September 1, after coalition talks on the 2027 budget, that it had been dropped, saying Finland’s appeal to data centre investors does not depend on tax subsidies. The scheme would have cost about €30 million a year.
Sites Above 1 MW Must Use Waste Heat or Show It Is Not Feasible
Parliament’s amendments to the Energy Efficiency Act, passed under government bill HE 85/2025, add section 29 e, which states that waste heat from a data centre with total power above 1 MW must be used.
The operator of an existing site that uses none of its waste heat must show, through a cost-benefit analysis, that doing so is not technically or economically feasible and must notify the Energy Authority, with the first notices due by December 31, 2027. A separate section requires a cost-benefit analysis when a new or significantly renovated data centre above 1 MW is planned.
Under a 2022 agreement with Fortum, heat from Microsoft‘s planned data centre region will feed the district heating network serving Espoo, Kauniainen, and Kirkkonummi, which has about 250,000 users. Fortum expects waste heat to cover about 60% of the area’s heating, with the data centres supplying 40% of it, and estimates a cut in CO2 emissions of about 400,000 tonnes a year.
Environment Ministry Ready to Amend the Law If Needed
The grid amendment still has to reach Parliament in its final form, and LVV has given no date for completing the Muhos and Kajaani assessments.
Veli-Matti Uski, director general at the Ministry of the Environment, said the ministry is monitoring how data centre legislation is applied and is prepared to propose amendments as necessary.
More than 93,000 people have signed a petition calling for tighter data centre rules and a fee to compensate local communities, and the sector is expected to be an issue in Finland’s April election.
Author: Ayanfe Fakunle
See Also:
Poland’s Data Centre Surge: Power, Permitting and the Nordic Path
Who Is Fighting Data Centres in Europe?
Finland orders halt to Google’s Muhos and Kajaani sites
Frequently Asked Questions:
Data centre electricity moved from tax class II to class I on 1 July 2026, raising the rate from 0.05 to 2.24 cents per kWh.
The draft amendment to the Electricity Market Act targets entry into force on 1 January 2027, with the first batch processing of groups 2–4 due by 31 December 2027.
Sites with total power above 1 MW must use waste heat or demonstrate through a cost-benefit analysis that it is not technically or economically feasible, with first notifications due by 31 December 2027.
LVV ordered a halt to preparatory work until environmental impact assessments are complete after large-scale forest clearance took place before the EIAs were finished.
