Trebbin

Trebbin is a town of 9,682 people (end of 2025) on the Nuthe river in Brandenburg's Teltow-Fläming district, about 36 km south-west of central Berlin.

Its data-centre project went ahead under building permits issued on the basis of a binding development plan, the town said on 7 October 2026. The notice named neither the investor nor the planned capacity. The operating permit under the Federal Immission Control Act, which weighs water, energy, heat, noise and emissions, still lay with the Landesamt für Umwelt Brandenburg. On 12 October the town postponed a public information event set for 4 November because the official reviews would not finish in time. It added that a taller chimney needs council consent, which waits on an urban development contract with the investor.

The build-first sequence has a local precedent: Tesla's Grünheide car plant rose under early approvals before the state granted its emissions permit in March 2022. Any conditions the agency sets at Trebbin will land on buildings already going up. Brussels has also set A-to-G energy grades for big EU data centres, adopted in September 2026.