Spain plans new, stricter data centres rules, sources say

According to government sources, the Spanish government is planning to introduce stricter rules on water, energy, and cybersecurity for data centres following a flood of projects in the country.

They said that the new requirements will be included in a draft?decree?that is open for public?consultation?this week.

Spain, with its abundance of renewable energy and vast stretches of undeveloped land, has become one of Europe's most attractive hubs, attracting artificial intelligence infrastructure projects worth tens or hundreds of millions of euros.

Sources said that the large number of projects will allow the country to choose the most effective and efficient ones in terms of sustainability, cybersecurity and efficiency.

The draft decree stipulates that data centres must be located in the European Union, and all data and metadata handled by them must stay in the EU. Mechanisms are in place to restrict access from other countries, and there are stricter requirements for facilities handling information from public entities or related to national security.

The sources stated that the proposed water and energy requirements would match the highest efficiency level anticipated by the sustainability label for data centers, which the EU is currently working on.

The government plans to also apply renewable energy regulations for data centres similar to those already in place for green hydrogen.

Every hour of operation, renewable energy must cover at least 80%. Each new megawatt must be matched by a megawatt of renewable power installed within 18 months before the facility starts operating. Long-term contracts and locally installed energy systems are two ways to achieve this.

People said that if you don't comply, you could lose your right to connect to a?power grid.

Facilities with a power capacity of more than 1 megawatt and that have not been connected to the grid will be subject to these rules. Projects that are already undergoing the permit process have six months to comply with the new requirements, or they will forfeit their right to connect to the grid. The current exchange rate is $1 = 0.8569 euro. (Reporting and editing by Aurora Ellis; Reporting by Pietro Lombardi)

(source: Reuters)