Schwarz Group to build €5.6bn 240MW data centre near Rostock

Around EUR 5.6 billion is to be invested by 2033 in a data centre with 240 MW of grid capacity at the former Bentwisch substation, with an option to expand to 1 GW by 2045. The site is to run exclusively on renewable (offshore wind) electricity, with waste heat fed into Rostock's district heating; the state is granting subsidies of up to EUR 120 million.

Press release by the Schwarz Group (Lidl, Kaufland) and the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania dated 27 August 2026; independently confirmed by heise online. It is Schwarz Digits' second major German project after the roughly 200 MW data centre in Lübbenau, Brandenburg (announced in November 2025). Update (29.09.2026): At a residents' meeting in Dummerstorf, the Schwarz Group named late 2027 or early 2028 as the planned start of construction, depending mainly on when the required power infrastructure is in place. The data centre is due to go online in 2032; the site in the Ostsee business park covers 350,000 sq m (dpa via WNOZ, 29 Sep 2026).