Finland's government has proposed abolishing the country's first-come, first-served electricity grid connection system and replacing it with a four-tier priority model that favors small-scale connectors — a change that would push larger data centers down the connection queue.

The proposal comes in a draft amendment to Finland's Electricity Market Act, which sets out new rules for determining connection priority and includes provisions specifically targeting data centers. According to the Finnish government, the reform aims to motivate high electricity consumers to take measures that lower electricity prices and reduce the risk of shortages. It would also encourage large consumers to relocate to less congested grid areas.

Four priority groups

The proposed system splits connection applicants into four groups. The first group prioritizes small-scale connectors: sites with a power intake capacity of no more than 3MW. Data centers are excluded from this segment unless their capacity is 1MW or less.

The top priority group also covers critical infrastructure, electricity storage facilities with capacities of 100kVA or less, and storage facilities connected to power plants that are not charged with electricity from the grid.

Projects in this first group would continue to receive connections on a first-come, first-served basis all year round, mirroring the current system.

Conditions for 1–10MW data centers

The second priority group covers data centers with capacity above 1MW but no more than 10MW — unless the facility holds electricity production capacity under a flexibility agreement covering at least 80 percent of its peak output.

The production commitment carries specific requirements. Local production must cover 50 percent of the site's estimated annual electricity consumption. The local power plant must be commissioned no more than 36 months before the commissioning of the data center site, and it must be located in the same area.

The data center operator would also have to offer flexible production capacity on an organized marketplace, either as electricity production or as demand-side flexibility at the site. That capacity must be able to produce electricity without interruption, be offered continuously, and have an output of at least ten percent of the site's peak output.

Lower tiers and timeline

Data centers with capacity above 10MW fall into the third priority group without any production commitment. The fourth group includes all other projects.

Projects in the second, third, and fourth priority categories would be processed through a six-month approval cycle, with the first allocation taking place in December 2027.

The amendment is scheduled to come into force on January 1, 2027. It will also apply to connection requests submitted before its enactment, provided no agreements have been reached by that date — meaning projects already waiting in the existing queue could find themselves reclassified under the new rules.

For data center developers sizing Finnish projects, the draft creates a clear calculus: stay at or below 1MW to retain top-priority treatment, secure local generation and flexibility commitments for the 1–10MW range, or accept a lower queue position for larger builds.