Connection queues are now measured in years, and data center developers are feeling it first. We're in Frankfurt to talk about what can be done with the network that already exists.

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Where grid operators and AI infrastructure meet

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Future Grid & AI Data Centres Europe 2026 will bring together transmission operators, data center developers and technology providers for two days on the same question: how Europe's power system absorbs the load that AI infrastructure is adding to it.

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The program runs as a two-day strategic summit, with a dedicated AI Gigafactories Investment & Delivery Forum alongside it. Day 2 opens with a keynote from the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy on the EU roadmap for digitalization and AI in energy, then moves into sessions on real-time operation of AI data centers, behind-the-meter power, and grid connection at scale.

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Grid connection management at scale

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Our CEO Mathias Garny will be on the panel Grid Connection Management at Scale: Enhancing System Flexibility, Capacity Allocation and Network Reliability, on Tuesday, September 29, 11:00–11:50.

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The panel will look at how operators can prioritize connections by system benefit, use digital tools and AI to model constraints, and free up capacity without waiting on new lines.

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He'll be joined by Alberto Méndez Rebollo (Plexigrid), Axel Kiessling (TenneT Germany), David Adkins (National Grid) and Georgios Papaefthymiou (Elia Grid International), with Blanka Thibaud (Via Terra) moderating.

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Connecting data centers on the lines that already exist

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The line is usually not as full as the paperwork says

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Most transmission lines are operated on static ratings: fixed limits set decades ago from worst-case assumptions about temperature, wind and sun. Those conditions almost never occur together, so the line spends most of its life carrying far less than it safely could.

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Dynamic Line Rating (DLR) measures what the conductor is actually doing, from sag and tension to mechanical behavior, and turns that into a real-time capacity figure. In practice, 10% to 30% more capacity on existing lines, with peaks up to 40% in favorable weather. No new towers, no rights-of-way, no permitting cycle.

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Hyperscale loads and connection timelines

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Hyperscale loads are unlike anything else on the network: 30–50 MW in a first phase, expansion paths beyond 100 MW, running 24/7, intolerant of curtailment. A connection offer either exists or it doesn't, and building the line that would make it exist takes 5 to 10 years and tens to hundreds of millions in capex.

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DLR changes the arithmetic on both sides:

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• For the operator: capacity allocated on measured headroom rather than conservative assumptions, and N-1 contingencies handled with real data instead of margin stacked on margin.
• For the developer: a connection date that doesn't depend on a reinforcement program finishing first.
• For both: a reinforcement that may still be needed, but later, and sized against evidence rather than forecast.

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Uruguay: securing a hyperscale connection on existing lines

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UTE, Uruguay's state-owned utility, is hosting one of Latin America's largest hyperscale data center developments: a load equivalent to several percent of national peak demand, on a network that wasn't planned for it.

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Rather than wait on reinforcement, UTE deployed 15 Ampacimon conductor-mounted sensors across 5 high-voltage lines (≥150 kV) to continuously monitor the real ampacity of the corridors feeding the data center area.

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It isn't a pilot. The project is built for 10+ years of continuous operation and integrated into UTE's transmission asset management. UTE has had DLR embedded in its operations for eight years, long enough that it's simply part of how the network is run.

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Which line is holding you up?

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Every stalled project has one. A corridor, a substation, a study that came back with a number nobody wants to hear. Tell us which one it is and we'll tell you what we'd measure on it, and what we'd expect to find.

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Mathias and our CPO Nabil Khouya are at the event both days, and we can also talk online.

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Get in touch here.