“Right now, data centers are just firing at the grid like they're throwing darts at a board, wanting to go wherever they can, hoping to get a connection, and perhaps asking for three or four locations, but only want to use one. The 70 gigawatts of demand that's out there is not real demand.”
Volts · Climate & Energy · October 2026
Roberts asked about Denmark's grid, which has about 7 gigawatts of peak capacity and roughly 70 gigawatts of connection requests, mostly from data centers. Jensen says Denmark needs some data centers, but puts the realistic figure at 20 to 25 gigawatts ten years from now.
Transcript
…shut down the hydro plants and save the water for later. So we are each other's battery. It's not a one-way street, it's a two-way street. And we will be able to provide Norway with a lot of power in the coming years. And they will have to provide us back when the wind is not blowing in Denmark.
…central utility has just cut off all connections for a while. Moratorium on new connections. I'm just curious how you think about data centers. Are they helpful? Are they hurting? Are they something you want to work around? Would you rather just keep them out? What's your mood towards data centers?
Well, data centers are necessary. Our computer systems work in a cloud. My bank is in the clouds. My pictures from my families are in the clouds. There's so many things in the cloud, so we need data centers. The health system in Denmark also works via data centers. So we need them. And of course, we should have some in Denmark as well. But we can't have all the data centers in the world. And right now, data centers are just firing at the grid like they're throwing darts and a board, wanting to go wherever they can, hoping to get a connection, and perhaps asking for three or four locations, but only want to use one. The 70 gigawatts of demand that's out there is not real demand. Right. Because some of them are data centers asking for more sites or batteries, hoping to get online. But at some point, batteries will also be filled up in Denmark, not needing more on the market. So I think the realistic target in Denmark should be around 20, 25 gigawatts coming 10 years from now. But that's also a huge increase, but we can manage this. You
don't worry about that crowding out electrification of other sectors. That sort of soaking up all the electricity and making it that much harder for heating and cars and everything.
Of course, we worry about that. That's also why the government actually, in these days, this week, are discussing a bill.
I was going to ask you about that. It's very fascinating.
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