Data Center Consulting for Governments and Investment Agencies

Quick answer: DC Market Insights helps governments and investment agencies decide how much data center investment to pursue, on what terms, and at what cost to the grid, water supply and public budget. We work with investment promotion agencies, energy ministries, regional governments, utilities and regulators, and give them independent numbers on demand, incentives and impact that do not come from the companies asking for support.

Every government that wants data center investment now faces the same trade-off: the projects bring capital, construction and digital capacity, but they also bring very large and fast-growing electricity demand. The International Energy Agency expects global data center electricity use to more than double, from 415 TWh in 2024 to around 945 TWh by 2030, and warns that around 20% of planned projects could be delayed by grid constraints.

Where data centers cluster, the pressure is already visible. Data centres used 22% of Ireland’s metered electricity in 2024, up from 5% in 2015, according to the Central Statistics Office. Northern Virginia holds 13% of all reported data center operational capacity in the world, and Virginia’s sales and use tax exemption gave the industry USD 928 million in tax savings in FY2023, according to the state’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC). Public bodies need to know what they are buying when they compete for these projects.

DC Market Insights is the data center practice of Credence Research, a research and consulting firm founded in 2015 with 200+ analysts and consultants and 450+ consulting projects a year.

Which public bodies do we work with?

We work with four kinds of public client, and each one needs a different answer from the same market evidence. An investment agency wants to win projects; an energy ministry wants to keep the lights on; a regional government wants local jobs; a regulator wants fair rules. Our work gives all of them one consistent set of numbers.

Investment promotion agencies

Investment promotion agencies need to know which data center investors they can realistically attract and what it will take. We give them a demand outlook by segment (hyperscale, colocation, edge and AI compute), a benchmark of what competing locations offer, and a positioning case based on what their location can actually deliver in power, land and fiber.

Energy ministries

Energy ministries need demand scenarios they can plan generation and transmission against. A single data center campus can need hundreds of megawatts, so a pipeline of announcements can change a national demand forecast within a year. We turn that pipeline into dated scenarios in MW and TWh, and show which part of it depends on decisions the ministry still controls.

Regional and city governments

Regional and city governments compete with each other, often inside the same country, for the same projects. They need to know whether their location suits data centers at all, which kind of facility fits, and what the local economy gains once construction ends. We answer those questions before they commit land, money or political capital.

Utilities and regulators

Utilities and energy regulators set the connection rules that now decide where data centers can go. They need to understand how investors will respond to each rule, how much demand is real, and how quickly it will arrive. We provide demand evidence from outside the connection queue, and a view of how comparable rules have worked elsewhere.

What questions do governments bring to us?

Most public clients bring one of four questions, and every one of them needs a number before it needs a strategy. Here is how we answer each.

How much data center investment can we attract?

The realistic answer is usually smaller and more specific than a headline target, because data center demand is concentrated and mobile. A location wins the segments its power, land, fiber and climate suit, and loses the rest to better-placed competitors.

We size demand bottom-up and top-down: the projects in the pipeline and how many will convert, and the regional market and the share a location can take. The output is an investment range in MW and capital terms for low, central and high cases, by segment, with the conditions under which each case happens.

Are our incentives competitive?

Incentives are competitive only in comparison with the locations investors actually weigh against you, so we benchmark your scheme against those locations line by line. We compare sales and use tax exemptions, property tax treatment, land offers, utility tariffs and connection terms, and the conditions attached to each.

The values involved can be large. JLARC found that Virginia’s exemption was worth USD 928 million to the industry in a single fiscal year. We express every scheme in comparable units, such as value per MW of IT load and value per job, so you can see whether your offer is above, below or in line with the market, and what moving it would change.

What does data center growth cost us in power, water and tax?

The cost of data center growth falls in three places: the grid, the water system and the public budget, and each can be estimated in advance. Grid costs depend on where projects connect and how fast. Water use depends on cooling design and climate. Tax costs depend on the incentives offered and on the tax the projects would have paid anyway.

On water, JLARC found that most data centers in Virginia use about the same as or less water than an average large office building, but that a few use substantially more. On power, the US Department of Energy reports that data centers used 4.4% of US electricity in 2023 and could use 6.7% to 12% by 2028, according to a report by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. We model these costs for your own location, using the facility types and cooling mix your market is likely to attract.

How do we balance growth with the grid?

The balance comes from rules that let data centers grow where and when the grid can take them, and governments now have several tested models to choose from. Three examples show the range.

Allocate capacity through competitive calls. Singapore releases data centre capacity in rounds rather than approving projects one by one. Its second Data Centre Call for Application, launched on 1 December 2025, makes at least 200 MW available. Applicants must achieve a PUE of 1.25 or better at full IT load and power at least 50% of the facility through eligible green energy pathways (Economic Development Board).

Tie connections to new generation. Ireland’s energy regulator, the CRU, decided in December 2025 that new data centres must provide generation or storage, on site or nearby, to match their maximum import demand and take part in the wholesale market. They must also meet at least 80% of annual demand with additional renewable electricity in Ireland. The CRU cites projections that data centre demand will rise from 22% of national demand in 2024 to 31% by 2034 (CRU).

Require transparency first. Under Article 12 of the recast EU Energy Efficiency Directive, data centres must publish information on their energy performance and sustainability, with first reports due by 15 September 2024 (European Commission). On 21 September 2026 the Commission proposed a common rating scheme and opened a consultation on minimum performance standards, with a proposal planned for the second quarter of 2027 (European Commission).

We model how each approach would work in your location: how many MW it would attract, how fast, which segments it would favour, and what it would change for the grid and the budget.

Which of our services do governments use?

Public clients mostly use our policy and investment advisory service, supported by market sizing and site selection work. Each service can be bought on its own or combined in one engagement.

• Policy and investment advisory. Incentive benchmarking, grid and water impact, investment attraction strategy, regulatory design and economic impact assessment. This is the core service for governments.
• Market sizing and forecasting. An independent view of how big the data center market is, how fast it is growing and where, built bottom-up and top-down and reconciled.
• Site selection and feasibility. A scored comparison of candidate zones or sites on grid capacity, land, fiber, water and permitting, useful for agencies planning data center parks or designated zones.
• Market entry and power strategy. The view from the investor’s side: how operators and hyperscalers choose where to go next, and what power terms they need.
• Competitive intelligence. Which operators and investors are active in comparable markets, what they are building and where, so an agency knows whom to approach.

For an overview of all six services, see our consulting page.

Why do governments need independent data center analysis now?

Because the numbers governments are asked to plan against are rising quickly and spread widely, and most of them come from parties with an interest in the answer. The LBNL report projects US data center use of 325 to 580 TWh by 2028, against 176 TWh in 2023. A range that wide is a planning risk in itself.

Demand forecasts are wide and contested

Connection queues are full of projects that will never be built, and announcements often count the same demand twice as developers apply in several places. A government that plans from the queue alone risks overbuilding; one that ignores it risks shortages. An independent model that tests conversion rates and timing narrows the range.

National averages hide local strain

The European Commission estimates that data centres account for close to 3% of EU electricity demand, but the share in Ireland is above a fifth. Clusters form around fiber, power and existing campuses, so pressure on a single grid region can arrive years before national figures show it.

The economic case needs to be counted fairly

Data centers bring large capital spend but relatively few operating jobs: JLARC notes that a typical 250,000 square foot data center may have around 50 full-time workers. Across Virginia, it estimates the industry contributes 74,000 jobs, USD 5.5 billion in labour income and USD 9.1 billion in GDP. A fair economic case separates construction from operations, counts foregone tax as a cost, and includes the grid investment that growth requires.

How does an engagement with a public body work?

Every engagement runs in five steps, and each step produces something officials can use before the next one starts.

1. Scope the decision. A call with the client team to agree the question, the competing locations to benchmark, the scenarios to model and the deadline. You receive a written scope and a quote.
2. Build the evidence base. Our analysts start from the relevant DC Market Insights models and add grid and utility data, published policy documents, incentive schemes in competing locations, planning records and any data you hold.
3. Test with the market. We speak to operators, developers, utilities and equipment suppliers to test how investors are likely to respond, and check every important assumption against at least one independent source.
4. Model the options. We build low, central and high scenarios for each option in MW, TWh, water, jobs, GDP and tax, with every assumption stated so your team can change it and see what moves.
5. Present and stand behind it. A findings session with officials, and with ministers, boards or committees if needed. Follow-up questions are answered after delivery.

What you receive

DC Exclusive: what does our model library give a government that a pipeline list cannot?

It gives an independent view of demand built from the whole market, not from the projects that happen to be asking for a connection. Our library holds 519 published market models across the data center value chain, each with history from 2020, a 2025 base year and a forecast to 2035.

The library is organised in five layers, the same structure we use for all our research:

Models come in global, regional and country editions. Our Iberia Data Center Market report values that market at USD 11.53 billion in 2025, a baseline for any Spanish or Portuguese agency estimating its own share. Our UK Data Center Thermal Management Market report shows London and Slough holding more than 65% of UK cooling spend, a reminder of how concentrated investment becomes once a cluster forms.

Three proprietary datasets are in development and will feed future projects: a Capacity Tracker (live and pipeline MW by country, city and operator), a Colocation Price Index (USD per kW per month by market) and a Deal Tracker (M&A, funding, land and power deals).

How do we make sure the numbers hold up?

We build every demand figure two ways and only use it when the two agree, because figures in public documents will be challenged by every side.

• Bottom-up: we count demand from the project level: connected capacity, signed agreements and enquiries, each with a conversion rate and a likely energisation date.
• Top-down: we work down from the wider market, such as cloud and AI compute growth, regional capacity and electricity use, and the share a location can take.
• Reconcile: where the two results differ, we find out why and fix the input that is wrong, rather than averaging the gap away.
• Three cases: low, central and high, each traced to the inputs that drive it.
• Traceable sources: every figure is linked to a policy document, a regulator or utility dataset, a filing, an interview or a stated assumption, and our editor checks the trail before delivery.

Our clients include public sector bodies such as the USDA, FDA and CDC (client list).

Who leads our work with governments?

A named senior consultant leads every engagement, and a separate editor checks every number before anything is delivered.

• Priyanka Mor, Senior Consultant. Priyanka leads cross-border commercial due diligence, market entry feasibility, TAM, SAM and SOM sizing and M&A screening engagements, and is our principal methodology reviewer. She has more than 15 years in market research and consulting. Market entry feasibility and demand sizing sit at the centre of most government questions.
• Amit Jain, Senior Consultant, ICT & Emerging Technologies. Amit heads our ICT consulting and syndicated research practice and has more than 20 years in technology market research. He covers data center infrastructure, cloud and telecom.
• Deepti Agrawal, Senior Editor, Research. Deepti is the final quality gate for our reports and consulting work. She checks models, growth rates and company profiles, and owns our house style.

Which DC Market Insights research supports work with governments?

Every engagement links back to the published reports for the markets involved, so officials can see our baseline before we tailor it. Useful starting points:

• Iberia Data Center Market for demand in Spain and Portugal
• UK Data Center Thermal Management Market for cooling technology, which shapes power and water use
• OCP Rack Market, forecast to grow from USD 1.63 billion in 2025 to USD 13.34 billion by 2035, for the hyperscale equipment that drives rack density
• The full data center research library, organised in five layers

Frequently asked questions

What does an engagement cost?

Fees are quoted per engagement and depend on the number of locations benchmarked, the number of policy options modelled and the deadline; you receive a written quote after the scoping call.

Do you also work for data center operators and investors?

Yes, and that is part of what we bring: a working view of how investors decide where to build. Conflict checks and confidentiality terms are agreed in writing before any work starts.

Can our report be published or used in a consultation?

Yes, if you choose. Every figure is traced to its source, which makes our reports suitable for public documents. Publication terms are agreed in the engagement letter.

Which countries and regions do you cover?

Our published reports cover global, regional and country markets across the data center value chain, and our client base spans Europe (45%), the Americas (30%), Asia Pacific (13%) and the Middle East and Africa (12%).

How do we start?

Send us the question, the location and your deadline through the form below. A senior consultant will reply within one business day to arrange a scoping call.

Sources

• International Energy Agency: Energy and AI, executive summary (2025)
• Central Statistics Office Ireland: Data Centres Metered Electricity Consumption 2024 (10 June 2025)
• Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission: Data Centers in Virginia (2024)
• US Department of Energy: DOE releases new report evaluating increase in electricity demand from data centers (LBNL) (20 December 2024)
• Singapore Economic Development Board: Launch of second Data Centre Call for Application (1 December 2025), with the full press release (PDF)
• Commission for Regulation of Utilities: CRU publishes its decision on new electricity connection policy for data centres (12 December 2025)
• European Commission: Commission adopts EU-wide scheme for rating sustainability of data centres (15 March 2024)
• European Commission: Energy performance of data centres (accessed October 2026)
• Our clients