MALAGA’S hopes of becoming a data centre hub could be dashed by new rules being drawn up in Madrid, the Junta de Andalucia has warned.
A study by property consultancy Savills ranked Malaga third in southern Europe for data centre potential. But Manuel Larrasa, the Junta’s commissioner for electrification, says the central government’s draft royal decree would ban them “de facto”.
The government wants new data centres, which use huge amounts of power, to bring their own renewable energy supply.
Speaking at a forum organised by Malaga Hoy, Larrasa said that was “unviable” in Malaga because of the terrain and the price of land.
He said a major data centre planned in Cartama would use 165 megawatts, roughly double the 80MW the entire Huelva oil refinery consumes. “The amount of renewable energy it would have to install is impossible.”
Larrasa said the same goes for the Andalucia Technology Park (PTA) in Malaga. In May the Junta put a €1.257 billion project there by Saltburn Holding on its investment fast track.
The project is expected to create 710 jobs during construction and 254 once it opens. Larrasa warned that the decree creates “great legal uncertainty” for everything already being built.
The government argues that the Middle East crisis and high gas prices have made the measures more urgent. It says that unless big new consumers are matched by new renewable generation, Spain will burn more gas.
That would push up bills for everyone and weaken the incentive to switch to electric power.
Experts say the requirements go too far. The decree would oblige data centres to cover at least 80% of their electricity with renewables.
Those that fail would be refused a grid connection and could face heavy fines.
They could do this through their own generation or through contracts of at least 10 years with plants that started operating no more than 18 months before the data centre.
Leandro Real, of Quantica Renovables, said the draft rightly identifies the problem of an overloaded grid, but he called the solution “a bit unviable”.
Data centres run around the clock, while solar plants can go almost 14 hours without generating in winter.
Wind farms take three to four years to get up and running.
Simulations suggest the cheapest way to comply would push long-term costs above €100 per megawatt hour. Economist Diego Rodriguez, of Madrid’s Complutense University and the Fedea think tank, said that would wipe out Spain’s main competitive advantage: plentiful, affordable power.
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