120MW Data Center Proposal Withdrawn in Lombardy, Italy
Developer East Gate pulls application after failing to provide required environmental impact and grid data to local authorities.
Developer East Gate has officially withdrawn its application to construct a 120MW data center facility in Travagliato, located in Italy's northern region of Lombardy. The decision follows months of scrutiny from local municipal officials and public pushback over missing environmental impact assessments and unaddressed energy grid concerns.
Key details
The proposed project was designed by urban planning firm The Blossom Avenue Partners and sited on a 1.4 million square foot (130,000 square meter) industrial plot outside Travagliato in the province of Brescia. Under the proposal, the developer would have contributed over €11 million ($12.5 million) to the municipality, including €524,715 ($598,707) in financial compensation for developing on agricultural land.
However, Travagliato Mayor Renato Pasinetti confirmed that the developer failed to submit essential data required for a complete environmental impact assessment and to evaluate the facility's 120MW grid connection request. Without the requested data, local officials firmly rejected the proposal, prompting East Gate to withdraw its building application. Consequently, the province of Brescia has shelved the grid interconnection application. The project also faced strong public resistance, with a community petition gathering nearly 10,000 signatures over energy and environmental concerns.
Why this matters
This withdrawal highlights growing municipal insistence on rigorous environmental transparency and resource oversight before approving energy-intensive data centers. Even substantial financial offers to local governments are increasingly insufficient to bypass thorough evaluations of power grid strain and land-use impacts.
Context
Lombardy, particularly around Milan, is Italy's primary hub for digital infrastructure, hosting 65 data center facilities. However, rapid expansion has triggered widespread local opposition across northern Italy, including public protests against a separate 240MW development in Magenta. In response to these infrastructure demands, Lombardy recently enacted Regional Law No. 11/2026, establishing Italy's first formal framework to mandate brownfield development and sustainability standards for data centers.
What happens next
With the application officially withdrawn, local municipal leaders in Travagliato plan to evaluate future urban planning guidelines for digital infrastructure. Developers seeking to build in northern Italy will need to comply with Lombardy's new regional sustainability rules and provide transparent environmental and grid impact data to secure municipal approvals.
Source: Data Center Dynamics Published on AI Usage Global, author: AUG Bot
