EDF and OpCore plan a several-hundred-megawatt data center near Paris backed by €4 billion (about $4.3 billion).
Project aligned with France’s fast-track infrastructure strategy to expand AI computing capacity and modernize industrial regions.
Redevelopment of a former coal site positions low-carbon power and grid access as central to Europe’s digital competitiveness.
Paris region moves forward on strategic AI infrastructure
France is preparing to build one of Europe’s largest high-power computing hubs, as EDF and OpCore enter exclusive negotiations to develop a data center of several hundred megawatts on the site of a former thermal power plant in Montereau-Vallée-de-la-Seine. The project, backed by roughly €4 billion from OpCore, is emerging as a central pillar of the country’s plan to expand domestic AI capacity, secure grid-reliable digital infrastructure, and repurpose legacy industrial land for high-value economic activity.
The Montereau site spans the municipalities of Vernou-La-Celle-sur-Seine and La Grande-Paroisse, placing it within the wider Paris metropolitan area. Its selection reflects a broader government and utility-driven strategy to accelerate major digital deployments while anchoring them in regions with existing transmission capabilities and community support.
EDF’s strategy to expand high-power digital infrastructure
EDF launched a call for expressions of interest earlier this year to identify developers capable of constructing very high-power data centers on its available industrial sites. As one of France’s largest landowners, the utility is offering parcels already prepared for strategic infrastructure and promising accelerated grid connections for projects that meet economic and national-interest criteria.
For EDF, these sites offer a dual agenda: enabling low-carbon electricity to serve energy-intensive digital growth, and redeploying former thermal assets into long-term economic drivers. The company’s leadership has increasingly framed data infrastructure as a natural extension of its role in the country’s low-carbon transition and industrial competitiveness.
OpCore brings domestic capacity and hyperscale experience
OpCore, jointly owned by the iliad Group and InfraVia-managed funds, has more than two decades of experience designing and operating data centers. The company is known for technical efficiency, particularly in large-scale deployments that require both advanced cooling and energy-use optimization. Backed by the iliad Group’s telecom footprint and InfraVia’s infrastructure capital, OpCore is positioned to manage the engineering and operational demands of a multi-hundred-megawatt campus.
Executives close to the negotiations describe the Montereau project as a strategic anchor for Europe’s AI build-out, where demand for sovereign computing capacity is intensifying and large national utilities are increasingly viewed as essential partners.
Rehabilitation of a former coal plant with environmental constraints
The Montereau coal-fired plant operated for several decades before closing permanently in 2004. Its redevelopment into an AI-ready campus aligns with regional ambitions to regenerate industrial land while keeping environmental constraints at the center of design. EDF and OpCore plan to integrate energy-efficiency measures, local supply-chain participation, circular-economy applications, and land-use planning shaped with local authorities.
Local jobs are expected to increase during construction and operations, with several hundred direct and indirect positions forecast. Officials say the project’s integration into the community will be shaped through ongoing coordination with municipalities and regional economic agencies.
Computing power as a pillar of European digital sovereignty
With planned capacity in the hundreds of megawatts, the site is expected to become one of Europe’s most powerful computing centers, directly serving the continent’s expanding AI sector. French officials have been explicit that large-scale domestic infrastructure must be built quickly to prevent strategic dependence on non-European cloud and hyperscale providers.
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Roland Lescure, French Minister of the Economy, Finance, and Digital and Industrial Sovereignty, said: “This massive investment proves how France intends to lead the AI revolution. By housing such large strategic facilities on our soil, we’re reiterating our determination to reindustrialize our country, create regional employment and make France a major digital power.”
Anne Le Henanff, Minister Delegate in charge of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies, added: “I’m delighted with this announcement that marks a major step forward for our national digital strategy… We are clearly demonstrating how we have the assets to make France a global driver of artificial intelligence.”
Accelerated grid access and national strategic priorities
The project benefits from the French State’s fast-track connection regime for strategic computing sites, placing initial commissioning in 2027. The regime is part of a broader push to streamline permitting for infrastructure that advances national industrial priorities, including AI, cloud services, and battery manufacturing.
Bernard Fontana, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of EDF, said: “This partnership with OpCore is aligned with EDF’s mission: to provide actors in the digital sector with abundant, reliable, low-carbon electricity produced in France.”
Thomas Reynaud, Chief Executive Officer of the iliad Group, noted: “With this project we’re going much further than just building a data center. We’re creating one of the largest strategic facilities that France and Europe as a whole need to retain control of their digital destiny.”
Vincent Levita, Chief Executive Officer of InfraVia Capital Partners, added: “At a time when data is becoming a sovereign asset, energy is its foundation.”
Global and regional relevance
The project illustrates how European governments are positioning energy-secure data infrastructure as a strategic asset equal to advanced manufacturing or critical materials. For investors, the Montereau initiative highlights accelerating capital flows into hyperscale campuses that integrate grid-ready industrial land with low-carbon power. For policymakers, it reinforces that digital sovereignty now depends on rapid build-outs of compute capacity, not only regulatory frameworks.
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