Amazon and DEI agree to build a Kozani data centre with 300 MW initial capacity
Memorandum between DEI and Amazon Web Services foresees 300 MW initial power input; expansion could reach 1 GW and about 1,500 jobs.
Greece and Amazon are moving ahead with plans for a major data‑centre in Kozani after a memorandum last week between the country’s power utility DEI and Amazon Web Services. The project’s first phase is designed to provide 300 megawatts of input power and is described by Greek officials as one of the largest investment projects currently being pursued globally.
Kostis Hatzidakis, Greece’s deputy prime minister, said the site — long known as an electricity production hub for the country — can now host advanced cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure, and that thousands of jobs will be created across the wider regional investment programme.
Numbers: capacity and jobs
The memorandum foresees an initial installed input capacity of 300 megawatts. During construction the companies expect to employ several hundred workers, Hatzidakis said; when the facility opens in its first phase it will require roughly 400–500 staff, largely scientists and technical specialists.
Hatzidakis added that the project could be expanded to a total capacity of up to one gigawatt, and if that happens employment at the site could reach about 1,500 people. He placed the Kozani project inside a wider DEI investment plan in north‑western Greece that includes new renewables, energy storage and green hydrogen, a package he said will create more than 5,000 jobs.
“The site that for decades supplied the country with electricity can now host state‑of‑the‑art cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure,” Hatzidakis said, describing the shift from traditional power production toward digital infrastructure at the location.
“And I am personally very pleased with this investment because in 2019 as minister for the environment and energy I took over DEI on the verge of collapse. Today we are talking about a completely different DEI, which can contribute positively to the energy transition of Western Macedonia, and already helps Greece move faster toward the future,” he added.
Photo: press material from the event
