Dutch land-registry records, first reported by NRC, show that Microsoft has bought another 37.5 hectares of agricultural land at Middenmeer in North Holland, adjacent to the hyperscale campus it already runs there.
What is already on the site
The existing Agriport campus holds a 78 MW grid connection and consumes roughly 1.17 terawatt-hours a year — more than 1% of all electricity used in the Netherlands. North Holland's network is among the most congested in Europe; TenneT is building a new 380 kV line with two substations nearby.
This is not a data-centre announcement
Microsoft has filed no zoning-change application and describes any future facility as aspirational. What exists is a land purchase and a grid-connection application, with the company saying it will "join the back of the line." Headlines announcing a new Dutch data centre are describing a building nobody has applied to build.
The detail that actually matters
Most "developer announces N megawatts" stories carry no evidence that the power exists. This one is the inverse: no announced capacity at all, but a verifiable move in the interconnection queue, next to a planned 380 kV substation, years ahead of any permit. Queue position is the scarce asset in this market, and Microsoft has bought optionality on it.
What was not disclosed
Neither the purchase price nor the seller appears in the records as reported. The transaction itself predates the coverage — the news is that the registry revealed it, not that it happened Monday.
Sourcing
The origin is a single NRC investigation, though several independent Dutch outlets carry the same figures. Microsoft has not issued a statement beyond its comments on the queue.