Andalusia will submit objections to Spain’s draft royal decree on requirements for the construction and operation of data centres. The regional government says rules of this importance should involve the autonomous communities and allow Spain to compete for major investments linked to artificial intelligence and the digital economy.
Regional Minister for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Development and Public Administration José Antonio Nieto announced the move during a visit to construction work on the regional government’s new data centre in Seville TechPark. The facility is 33% complete and is scheduled to begin operating in June 2027. Nieto described it as the regional government’s “technological heart.”
Nieto said Andalusia supports regulating data centres but wants changes to avoid excessively rigid requirements that do not account for regional climate and geography or developments in technology. He said the regional government supports demanding environmental standards, but argued that the rules should not discourage investment and jobs in Spain. The proposed national decree would, among other measures, require new data centres with power demand above one megawatt to meet high energy-efficiency standards and obtain at least 80% of their electricity, hour by hour, from new renewable generation. It also sets requirements concerning water, resilience and digital sovereignty.
Andalusia will propose that the target of 90% renewable-energy generation be assessed by autonomous community, rather than only nationally. The regional government says this would allow renewable-energy leaders such as Andalusia to use surplus generation to offset the greater technical demands that local climate conditions can place on cooling data centres. It also wants the rules aligned with the European timetable, a transition period for projects already under review, and energy- and water-efficiency criteria that take regional climate and geography into account. Aragón and Extremadura have also announced plans to object and called for greater regional participation.
The regional government says more than 20 projects in Andalusia could be affected, representing investment of more than €10 billion. One project in Málaga, declared to be of strategic interest by the regional government, has 150 megawatts of electrical demand and 100 megawatts of IT capacity, with investment of €1.257 billion.
The Seville data centre, promoted by the Andalusian Digital Agency, represents an investment of €36 million. It will cover 5,150 square metres, with 6,240 square metres of floor area, and will initially have capacity for 416 racks and 2.24 megawatts of IT power, with scope to expand to 624 racks and 3.35 megawatts. The facility is designed to handle hybrid cloud, artificial intelligence, big data and quantum computing, and is expected to employ about 140 specialists. Plans include more than 20,000 square metres of photovoltaic installation, gas-based cooling instead of water, and a projected 75% reduction in CO₂ emissions compared with current corporate data centres.