The Government prepares a major screening to tackle the ‘boom’ of data centers

The Government is preparing to apply a major screening to put order in the large number of permits granted for the construction of data centers in Spain, whose volume, if fully installed, would seriously strain an already questioned electrical grid following the blackout.

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The data the Government has is that the permits granted for data centers would amount to a demand equivalent to a power of 12 gigawatts (GW), roughly the same number of nuclear power plants. It is a very high figure, especially when on a normal day Spain’s electricity consumption usually does not exceed 40 GW, or when the artificial intelligence strategy until 2030 estimates that no more than 4 GW of data centers will be needed.

The Government’s solution to contain the boom will consist of admitting only projects that exceed the best rating of a new EU labeling, in addition to other requirements. Only the best will survive, in terms of energy efficiency, water consumption, digital sovereignty, and renewable support. The question is how the measure will sit with investors working on lower quality projects.

The measure, sources indicate, will be implemented with all kinds of legal precautions and after talking with companies in the sector. This Wednesday a meeting is scheduled with the data center association SpainDC and the technology association Ametic. The Government maintains that the screening is proportionate and not retroactive, without giving details of its scope. “There is no numerus clausus,” they say. It also does not imply any kind of moratorium, as permits will continue to be granted.

There is a perception among the involved ministries, the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Ministry of Digital Transformation, that alongside projects from large technology groups, there are others not so mature, launched in some cases by real estate companies or opportunistic firms that have been hoarding permits to then sell them. Sources avoid the word bubble, but do use terms like avalanche or speculation.

This Wednesday the Government plans to open public consultation on the new measures, through an urgent processing royal decree to promote sustainable, efficient, and sovereign data centers. The regulation develops royal decree-law 7/2026 of March, which includes measures to respond to the crisis in the Middle East and already refers to the current process of “access hoarding,” in which permits are granted without any criterion other than order of arrival.

A few months ago, a mechanism called capacity reservation was launched that increases the cost every six months for projects that do not progress. It is a way to eliminate speculative permits that, however, falls short compared to the great selection criteria now being promoted.

The idea is to rationalize a business as strategic as it is challenging for the grid, and to do so before it is too late and traumatic measures have to be imposed. “Spain is in a position to choose the best data centers,” argue the Government. In the new natural selection, only the greenest, most sustainable, and sovereign will survive.

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Among the requirements, one of the flagship measures is that each new megawatt of consumption on electrical grids must be backed by a similar capacity of renewables. Additionally, 80% of consumption must have a renewable origin, which must be certified hour by hour. These principles are called additionality and correlation in Ecological Transition.

It is good news for renewable producers who suffer zero electricity prices at certain times of the day. They will now be able to close long-term electricity sales agreements with these large consumers at a fixed price, which will spare them the fluctuations of the wholesale market.

The Government will also be very demanding with water consumption and energy efficiency. In August next year, the EU will launch a new labeling for data centers, and Spain will only admit category A installations for centers with a capacity greater than one megawatt. Those that do not reach this quality level are out of the game. It is a luxury that a country with an excellent renewable resource can afford, whose water resources, however, are not abundant.

Another requirement relates to technological resilience and digital sovereignty. A data center can lose its right of access to the grid if it does not guarantee that all citizens’ data and metadata remain in the EU, and that it controls possible third-party access. The quality of data centers will also be measured by their ability to consume electricity stably, without generating oscillations in the grid.

Once the regulation is published, projects under processing will have barely six months to adapt and prove compliance. Otherwise, they will have to give up their rights of access to the grid and make room for higher quality projects.

The Government considers that, with the royal decree, it is ahead of measures already being debated in Europe. Sources insist that there is no hostility towards data centers, quite the opposite. “We want the most efficient and sustainable,” they affirm. It is also necessary, they say, a “proportional deployment” to avoid greater use of gas plants and an increase in prices for consumers.