Lombardy creates first comprehensive regulatory framework for the establishment of data centres

With[CE2.1] Regional Law no. 11/2026, the Lombardy region has adopted its first dedicated[CE3.1] regional code on data centres. In introducing a comprehensive regulatory framework through the law for the establishment, expansion and monitoring of data centres[CE4.1], the Region has sought to strike a balance between three areas: technological development and investment attraction; environmental and energy sustainability; governance of impacts on infrastructure networks and land use.

The law starts from a broad definition of data centre, including both the physical structure and the technological infrastructure for digital services, data processing and management. It is expressly aligned with Regulation (EU) 2024/1364 on the European classification of data centres. 

The overall framework focuses, on the one hand,  on the digitalisation of the production system and the reuse of derelict and degraded industrial sites, and on the other on urban regeneration, limiting land consumption, the protection of water resources, biodiversity and the landscape, as well as on consistency with the capacity of existing infrastructure. 

Four priority axes 

The regional regulation identifies four priority axes:

• the establishment in disused or contaminated sites identified by urban planning instruments; 
• the use of energy from carbon-neutral sources; 
• the recovery and reuse of waste heat (for example, through district heating or energy communities); 
• the adoption of water-efficient cooling systems capable of avoiding the use of drinking or irrigation water. 

The specific technical criteria (thresholds, parameters and indicators) required to give effect to and implement these priority axes are to be established by the Regional Executive within sixty days, with direct reference to the indicators laid down in the European regulation.

Linked to these priorities is a package of incentive measures, which may be cumulated. These range from the acceleration of authorisation procedures and the adoption of simplification protocols, to priority access to regional funds for innovation, connectivity and regeneration, selective reductions in the construction contribution under article 19 of Presidential Decree no. 380/2001 (limited to the waste component) and on standards for on-site car parks, subject in all cases to compliance with environmental and town planning regulations and with the principles of competition and non-discrimination. 

The procedure

On the procedural front, the law establishes a "Regional Helpdesk for Data Centres", which becomes the single front office for authorisation procedures in cases where the Integrated Environmental Authorisation (AIA, the Autorizzazione Integrata Ambientale) falls under regional jurisdiction. 

The region retains the authority to issue the AIA for plants falling under article 7, paragraph 4–ter, of Legislative Decree No. 152/2006 (and, therefore, for plants with a capacity between 50 MW and 300 MW subject to the AIA procedure falling within regional competence), with the technical support of ARPA (Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione dell'Ambiente, the regional environmental protection agency).

Most notably, new construction or expansion projects must be accompanied by a specific detailed energy report, setting out how the use of on-site renewable sources is to be maximised; how the energy supply is structured; the technical and economic reasons why any more efficient solutions cannot be adopted; and the projected performance in terms of energy efficiency and environmental impacts. Where heat recovery via district heating networks is envisaged, a specific feasibility study is required. 

To support implementation, and in order to harmonise and expedite the procedures for the Single Environmental Authorisation (AUA, or Autorizzazione Unica Ambientale) under Presidential Decree No. 59/2013 and for the AIA, a technical-administrative task force has been established. This comprises the region, ARPA, the ATS (Agenzie di Tutela della Salute, the Health Protection Agencies operating within the regional territory), ERSAF (Ente Regionale per i Servizi all'Agricoltura e alle Foreste, the Regional Authority for Agricultural and Forestry Services), the Metropolitan City of Milan, the Provinces and ANCI (Associazione Nazionale Comuni Italiani, the National Association of Italian Municipalities). This task force is to draw up operational guidelines for approval by the Regional Executive. Its remit is therefore of an essentially consultative and advisory nature and does not entail any decision‑making in individual administrative proceedings.

From an urban-planning perspective, the newly introduced regime links the land-use designation to the electrical power required, in that:

• above 5 MW, the data centre is classified in all respects as a production facility; 
• up to that threshold, urban planning compatibility is permitted even with tertiary and office uses;
• in the case of a data centre integrated with district‑heating plants or systems for the recovery and use of the thermal energy produced by its cooling systems, the establishment of the data centre is also permitted in areas designated for technological services. 

In any case, the construction contribution is calculated in the same way as for production facilities, with a significant surcharge if the site is located on agricultural land. In that case the contribution is doubled (+100%) and even tripled (+200%) in the case of protected areas pursuant to Regional Law no. 86/1983, with a requirement that the additional revenue be fully allocated to compensatory and regeneration measures.

To ensure coordination with the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA or, Valutazione d'Impatto Ambientale - VIA) and EIA-screening procedures, the town planning scheme or the authorisation for the data centre equipped with emergency generators must already indicate, at the approval stage, the total nominal thermal power of the generators (to be expressed in MW). However, this is merely an indicative value, which will only be definitively fixed at a later stage: the final power capacity will in fact be determined on completion of the single procedure referred to in article 8 of Decree-Law no. 21/2026 (the so-called Bills Decree), which centralises the final assessment at regional level.

Furthermore, an important new requirement is that the urban implementation plan or the application for the relevant authorisation must also indicate the power capacity requested for connection to the grid, thereby introducing new technical parameters and criteria which may directly affect the implementation of the project and, in the event of material changes, potentially require new urban‑planning variation procedures.

Large-scale projects: specific rules

For larger-scale projects (over 10 MW), a supra-municipal dimension comes into play. Such projects are classified as being of supra-municipal relevance and are therefore subject to a specific compatibility assessment carried out through a specific consultative concertation conference, intended to result in a territorial agreement for joint planning, according to a model consistent with that currently laid down in the thematic strategy of the Milan Metropolitan Territorial Plan (PTM, the Piano Territoriale Metropolitano) in terms of balancing territorial dispersion. 

The power to convene the conference lies with the Metropolitan City of Milan or the provinces, except for projects exceeding 50 MW or extending across more than one province, in which case overall coordination passes directly to the region. 

Of particular significance is the incentive mechanism provided for on‑site photovoltaic generation: the capacity of photovoltaic plants installed within the data centre area is deducted from the total power output for the purposes of determining whether the threshold for supra‑municipal relevance is met, with the practical effect of allowing the project to remain below the filter of the concertation conference and thus to benefit from a more streamlined authorisation procedure. In this way, the provision introduces a structural incentive for the on‑site integration of renewable generation, granting operators that invest in energy self‑sufficiency a significant procedural simplification.

Governance

The governance of the system is entrusted to a permanent steering committee, chaired by the President of the Regional Executive or by a delegated Regional Minister, bringing together the Region, local authorities, ARPA, ERSAF, universities, and electricity and water service operators. 

Its task is to monitor the sector’s development, to measure cumulative impacts in terms of energy consumption, water abstraction, land use, noise pollution and the so-called "heat island" effect, and to propose any necessary regulatory amendments. Within 120 days, the procedures governing interoperability with the European database of data centres are also to be defined, subject to agreement with the Ministry for the Environment.

Osborne Clarke comment

Regional Law no. 11/2026 constitutes the first comprehensive regulatory framework dedicated to data centres in Lombardy, responding to a concrete need to provide regulatory control over a rapidly expanding sector with significant impacts on electricity grids, water resources and land use. 

From an operational perspective, there are three key points for operators to note: the system of power thresholds, the requirement to file a detailed energy report, and that the full effectiveness of the law is deferred so pending applications will continue to be governed by the previous regime until it is fully in force.

The system of power thresholds (5 MW, 10 MW, 50 MW), including the reduction applicable where on‑site photovoltaic installations are present, will be decisive for planning interventions and in identifying the applicable authorisation procedure: it is therefore crucial to confirm the requested grid connection capacity prior to defining the project.

The legislative decision to recognise the town‑planning compatibility of small‑scale data centres (below 5 MW) with tertiary and office land‑use designations is a welcome development. Such a measure is of considerable practical significance, as it facilitates the siting of so‑called “edge” data centres (or "proximity" data centres) within the consolidated urban fabric, releasing them from the requirement to be located in areas with an industrial use. In so doing, this provision aligns with an already well‑established technological trend, the widespread distribution of computing capacity in proximity to end‑users, and removes one of the main planning obstacles to its implementation. At the same time, it fosters the reuse of existing tertiary buildings and contributes to the reduction of latency in digital services.

The regional law also consolidates and converts into a binding legal requirement a policy already embraced by market practice, namely the preferential siting of higher‑capacity data centres in disused or degraded industrial areas, thereby elevating the regeneration of brownfield sites to a guiding criterion of spatial planning. This choice, in addition to limiting land take on non‑urbanised land, offers operators a concrete competitive advantage: the possibility of accessing the package of incentive measures – procedural simplification, reduction of the construction contribution and priority in regional funding calls– which the law reserves for facilities consistent with the four priority axes identified above.

On the sustainability side, the legislation provides a significant impetus towards energy self‑sufficiency from renewable sources and the deployment of cooling technologies with high water‑efficiency performance, expressly excluding the use of potable or irrigation water: combined with the obligation to submit an energy report and the incentives for waste-heat recovery, this approach shapes a regulatory model geared towards the circular use of resources employed in the data centre’s operational cycle.

The requirement to file a detailed energy report, with forecast indicators and a district‑heating feasibility study, calls for early and structured coordination between technical and legal advisers from the outset of the application process. The legislative provision is, moreover, fully consistent with consolidated sector practice: no operator commences the development of a data centre project without having first obtained approval of the Minimum General Technical Solution (STMG, or Soluzione Tecnica Minima Generale) from the grid operator, since it is that solution which defines the connection parameters – and, consequently, the power actually available – on which both the technical and economic feasibility of the project and the identification of the correct authorisation procedure under the regional law depend. The energy report thus becomes the point of convergence between infrastructure planning and regulatory compliance, making timely coordination with the grid operator indispensable from the preliminary stages of the project.

The full effectiveness of the law is deferred until the adoption of the Regional Executive’s implementing resolutions (from 30 to 60 days from its entry into force); until that time, pending applications will continue to be governed by the previous regime.

We expect that the example set by the Lombardy Region will be followed by other regions through the adoption of specific regulations on data centres, implementing and giving effect to the single procedure provided for in art. 8 of Decree‑Law no. 21/2026 (the Bills Decree).