DCP proceeding with pair of 18 MW German sites, says CEO
30. März 2026
INTERVIEW by Ulan Harrison-Davies |
German-based operating partner Data Center Partners (DCP) is pushing ahead with the development of its two twin 18 MW sites in Dusseldorf and Munich, with building permits expected by year end.
Both sites will deliver 30 MVA – equating to around 18 MW of IT load – once fully operational and will be built in two phases of 9 MW, according to CEO Christopher Stief.
A US player is supporting the developments via a total investment per site of between EUR 200m and EUR 250m.
DCP is currently finalising its building permit application for both facilities and expects construction to take 18–24 months from the approval date, said Stief.
The Munich project is a few months ahead of the Dusseldorf development in terms of development timeline.
Typically, at a 30 MVA site, DCP would bring in a ‘handful’ of customers, mainly targeting colocation players including enterprise and public customers with a European background.
Power purchase agreements are being considered for both projects, with details expected to be finalised alongside the selected tenant. On heat reuse, Stief said both sites are intended to support it, noting their proximity to commercial areas that could directly benefit.
European expansion: Germany, Austria, Switzerland
In addition to the two twin sites in Germany, DCP is also progressing with other new projects across mainly Germany, as well as Vienna in Austria and Switzerland’s Zurich and Geneva.
“We have a lot of ongoing projects in the works across these three countries,” Stief said. “We expect to make announcements this year or early next year on the other projects.”
When discussing Austria, Stief noted that Vienna is ‘by far the biggest data centre market’ in the country but that it is yet to reach its full potential. Stief expects to see market acceleration in the wider Vienna region as more and more developments are being earmarked.
“The data centre market in terms of overall capacity in Vienna is quite small,” he said. “There hasn’t been huge appetite from hyperscalers and cloud players in the area over the last year but we’re seeing more interest.”
Switzerland, on the other hand, is already experiencing high demand across Zurich and Geneva, according to Stief. These areas are of particular interest to DCP because of the potential for ‘significantly higher’ returns, which counteract the higher construction and labour costs compared to Germany and Austria.
Germany and Austria experience similar constraints to one another, including higher energy prices compared to those of Nordic countries, for example. Both regions also face ‘a lot’ of regulatory hurdles, such as the energy efficiency act ‘binding operators’ in Germany.
Stief noted that the company also has the potential to look outside its three key markets in the mid-term, highlighting neighbouring countries like France, the Netherlands, the Benelux region, and maybe Poland as possible targets.
When selecting new sites, Stief said that the company is most concerned with the timeline for power because there is ‘no business case’ for post-2030 dates. Zoning is also an important element of site selection, as well as location. DCP is mainly focused on A-cities within the DACH region at present.
Details around the size of future developments are not yet clear, but Stief said that the company tends to stick to its ‘sweet spot’ of between 20 MVA and 50 MVA, which is most suitable for colo sites.
DCD operates and develops data centres alongside investors on a deal-by-deal basis as a minority stakeholder.
“We always do off-market projects, for example, we love changing logistics sites into data centres,” Stief said. “We do that a lot because we like to be in the process as early as possible.”
Typically, the German company targets investors with a fund duration of between four and seven years, with a view to sell the assets after that. DCP is not yet considering the sale of its Munich and Dusseldorf sites.
Founded in 2021, DCP is no longer involved in the following projects which appear on its website: Berlin (40 MVA), Frankfurt (30 MVA), the Graz site in Austria (5 MVA), Heidelberg (5 MVA), and Mainz (40 MVA).