Published 2026-09-12 · Event 2022-08-26

Microsoft’s 26 August 2022 Staffanstorp paper is a withdrawn backup permit, not a new hall

On 26 August 2022 Microsoft Sweden said it had withdrawn its permit application for backup generating sets at the Staffanstorp data centre. The planned backup permit was for a facility of 70 MW supplied power. The company will keep operating and expanding only with the backup sets already on site. Seventy megawatts is a withdrawn permit figure, not IT load, and not the later unnamed Saft battery paper.

Microsoft Sweden’s 26 August 2022 notice is the dated backup-permit source used here. The company has chosen to withdraw its permit application for the construction and operation of backup generating sets at the Staffanstorp data centre. The stated reason is sharply higher demand for cloud services and secure storage, which means a need for a larger data centre in the region than the one planned in Staffanstorp. Withdrawal is not a closure of the existing hall.

Seventy megawatts must stay the withdrawn object. Microsoft says the permit application for backup power for a facility with the planned capacity of 70 MW supplied power will not be sufficient to meet future expansion in the region. Combined with comments from the local community, that is why the application is withdrawn. Supplied power is the issuer’s phrase for the planned backup-permit facility. This article does not rewrite 70 MW as occupied IT load.

What remains on site stays limited. Microsoft will continue to operate and expand the Staffanstorp data centre, but only with the backup generating sets already in place, by adapting which services it offers there. Work has already begun to find a new suitable site in southern Sweden. A search for a new site is not a named municipality in this register.

Fuel sentences stay on this paper. Microsoft’s Swedish data centres run on 100 percent fossil-free energy and are the company’s first where backup sets are mainly run on Preem Evolution Diesel Plus, a Swan-labelled diesel with 50 percent renewable feedstock. Microsoft has a global commitment to be rid of diesel for necessary backup power by 2030, including current and future Swedish halls. The later Saft battery notice that does not name a Swedish site stays on its own row. This article does not pin that battery to Staffanstorp.

DataCenterSweden records 26 August 2022 as a withdrawn Staffanstorp backup-permit application. The Staffanstorp project identifier is attached. The next update would need a later primary source that names a new southern site or a replacement backup technology at Staffanstorp. Until then, 70 MW stays a withdrawn supplied-power permit — not a live IT row.

Why it matters

A 70 MW Staffanstorp headline is easy to file as cancelled IT load. The August notice is usable only if 70 MW stays a withdrawn backup-permit figure.

What remains unknown

The notice does not name the new southern site, does not publish the rating of the backup sets that remain, and does not attach a battery to Staffanstorp.

Sources