Data centers in Switzerland - Electricity consumption and efficiency potential
With the ongoing digitalisation of households and companies and the emergence of new applications - particularly in the field of artificial intelligence - the demand for data processing, communication and storage is increasing rapidly. The dynamics in the data centre sector are accordingly high.
On behalf of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE), we are currently conducting a survey of companies and data centres. The aim is to analyse the development of digital infrastructure in Switzerland and its energy impact.
The study, which we are conducting in collaboration with Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, is intended to update the data from 2019 and provide insights relevant to energy policy.
The focus is on the following questions:
- Collection of current data on the electricity consumption of data centres in Switzerland, differentiated by category: internal server rooms and data centres of companies and the public sector, hyperscalers and colocation data centres.
- Estimation of the already exploited and remaining energy efficiency potential, broken down into IT-side and infrastructure-side potential and by data centre category.
- Analysis of developments in the Swiss data centre market and its relevant context, such as legal framework conditions, industry initiatives, demand-side trends (such as relocations and relocations) and new requirements - particularly in connection with artificial intelligence. International developments are also taken into account.
Background: First study 2019-2020
An earlier comprehensive study on this topic in Switzerland, conducted by TEP Energy and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, showed that server rooms and data centres accounted for around 3.6% of Switzerland's electricity consumption in 2019. At the same time, significant efficiency potential of around 46% was identified.
Project period2024–2025 (second study, ongoing), 2019–2020 (first study)
Contact at TEP EnergyMartin Jakob
Contracting partySwiss Federal Office of Energy
Project partnersHSLU, Jobst Willers Engineering AG, ASUT, Profondia AG
Final report of the first study from 2021 (German)(PDF)
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