Sesterce · Alixan data center, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

A judge at the administrative court in Grenoble on July 10, 2026, froze the building permit for Sesterce's AI data center at the Rovaltain business park in Alixan, in the Drome department of Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, France, next to the Valence TGV station. The mayor of Alixan had granted the permit on December 18, 2025, for a data center of 40 MW at first, with a possible extension to 80 MW.

The judge found that a project of this size should have had an environmental impact study, and saw serious doubt that the local zoning plan allows the plant it needs on that plot. The judge noted that at full build the facility would need more than 60 megawatts of electrical power.

Sesterce, a Marseille start-up in computing infrastructure, puts the investment at 450 million euros for the first phase and nearly 1.5 billion euros in the long run. The company says the site's power was set at 40 MW with state officials, with backup plant of 19.80 MW thermal in the first stage, below the thresholds that would require a full environmental authorization, and that the plan removes two gas boilers now on the site.

The case was brought by the collective Assez Datacenters Rovaltain, made up of residents and groups including Les Amis de la Terre and Attac, which warned of noise and of higher temperatures within 200 meters of the site. The court accepted that Les Amis de la Terre France had standing to seek the freeze because the project could harm the environment. The regional employers' federation MEDEF Drome-Ardeche called the court fights a worrying obstacle to freedom of enterprise, a position Sesterce welcomed.

On July 27, 2026, Sesterce said it was appealing to the Conseil d'Etat, and it has asked the government to declare the campus a project of major national interest under a May 2026 economic simplification law. The freeze does not cancel the permit; it holds until the Grenoble court rules on the permit's legality.