The councils of Environment and Energy and of Mobility, Digital Transformation and Artificial Intelligence of Castilla y León have registered objections to the draft Royal Decree of the Government that tightens the regulation of data centers, understanding that the norm, in its current wording, "stifles future investments" in the Community and compromises already committed projects.
According to both councils, the text could also negatively impact public, scientific, and research centers. Therefore, in their writings, they demand "balanced and coherent" rules, considering that the proposed conditions are "unacceptable" and, in practice, block the implementation of new infrastructures or call into question initiatives that have already made prior expenditures.
Among the most controversial aspects of the project is the obligation for data centers to ensure that 80% of their electricity consumption comes from certain renewable sources and that, additionally, they certify that percentage on an hourly basis.
This requirement is "especially difficult" for facilities that must operate continuously, while solar and wind generation varies throughout the day, emphasize those from the regional Executive. The Junta defends that other alternatives, such as energy storage or flexible demand management, should be considered to meet environmental objectives.
The regional Government also rejects that these new obligations apply to projects already in development and argues that it is not "reasonable to change the rules" when a company or an administration has acquired land, made investments, processed permits, or launched a specific action.
The councils also question the sanctioning regime provided, which includes surcharges of up to 500%, and warn that "excessively restrictive" regulation may divert investments to other countries with more attractive frameworks.
In their opinion, this scenario would cause Castilla y León to lose opportunities in areas such as artificial intelligence, supercomputing, digital services, innovation, and qualified employment, when the priority should be to promote "sustainable" data centers that are, at the same time, viable and capable of generating activity and jobs in the Community, with special attention to the rural environment.
The Board emphasizes, moreover, the need for the future Royal Decree to clearly differentiate between large commercial data centers and public infrastructures aimed at research and knowledge generation.
In this context, it cites the case of Scayle, the Supercomputing Center of Castilla y León, a public infrastructure that serves universities, companies, and administrations and develops projects in fields such as research, artificial intelligence, and innovation.
For the regional government, it "makes no sense" to apply exactly the same requirements to a scientific-public center as to a large commercial data center, given that their objectives, their operating model, and their social impact are different.