Bank of America (BofA) Global Research has revised upwards its capacity projection for data centers in Spain, which now stands at 4.14 gigawatts (GW) of computing load for 2030 in its high-confidence scenario, above the 4.10 GW contemplated in its previous report.
This adjustment responds to the incorporation of new projects in the country, which will raise the electricity demand associated with these infrastructures to 21 terawatt-hours (TWh) by the end of the decade, that is, 0.16 TWh more than in previous estimates.
The main development included in this calculation is the 'MAD01' project in Alcobendas (Madrid), promoted by Ferrovial Digital Infrastructure (FDI).
This complex anticipates an investment of 1 billion euros and a total capacity of 60 MW (40 MW of computing load) in its first phase, and has been declared of special interest by the Community of Madrid.
In addition to this action, in July other initiatives classified with a lower degree of certainty were added, including a 150 MW campus by Krolmap in Aragón with self-consumption, a 1 billion euro project by Submer in Catalonia, and a 300 million euro facility driven by Valfortec in Elche (Alicante) with an estimated power of about 60 MW.
Across Europe, the market recorded an uneven evolution in July, with the announcement of 22 new projects totaling 2.3 GW of computing load. This figure represents a certain moderation compared to previous months due to the absence of large investment commitments.
Furthermore, only 10% of the capacity reported during the month managed to be classified in the high-confidence category, mainly due to the lack of definition in execution schedules, regulatory uncertainty regarding permits, and doubts about the operational capacity of some promoters.
60% of the capacity will be concentrated in four major European markets
Despite this temporary slowdown in project certification, BofA has increased its total capacity forecast for the main European nodes to 44.2 GW of computing load by 2030. Nearly 60% of this volume will be concentrated in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Spain.
The electricity consumption of these data centers in Europe will be around 228 TWh by the end of the decade, which will approximately account for 10% of the continent's electricity demand.
However, effective access to electrical supply networks continues to be the determining factor that conditions the pace of deployment of these infrastructures.