The Government is preparing a regulation that will require data centers to cover with new renewable generation, and on an hourly basis, at least 80% of the electricity they consume, according to the draft royal decree that will set the requirements for energy sustainability, environmental sustainability, resilience, and digital sovereignty applicable to 'data centers'.
The text has been jointly prepared by the Ministries for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge; Economy, Trade and Business; and Digital Transformation and Public Function, and it will be submitted to public consultation after the Council of Ministers has agreed this Tuesday to its urgent processing, in compliance with the mandate included in Royal Decree 7/2026 of March within the comprehensive response plan to the Crisis in the Middle East.
Sources from the Executive emphasize that the intention is to regulate the expansion of data centers in light of the strong increase in projects, ensuring high standards that reinforce legal security and capital attraction, and they underline that the Government is in favor of the deployment of 'data centers' and, precisely for that reason, is committed to providing them with a clear regulatory framework.
In this regard, they point out that the difficulties that have arisen in other countries —such as Ireland, Singapore, the Netherlands, or the United States— have been analyzed and that it is considered that now is the right time to get ahead with a regulation that allows avoiding those problems.
The future regulation aims to ensure compliance with the strictest criteria for energy and water efficiency, as well as for digital, technological, and computing sovereignty.
Bringing order to the rise of data centers
The objective is also to regulate the current 'boom' in demand for 'data centers', which has even led to warnings about a possible bubble regarding Spain's attractiveness for this type of investment.
Spain has an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy that projects about 2.5 gigawatts (GW) of computing power by 2030, which would require between 3.5 GW and 4 GW of electrical demand. However, the requests and permits for these infrastructures far exceed that horizon, due to the country's geographical position, its climate, and its renewable potential, having granted since 2021 more than 12 GW of access and connection rights to the grid.
There will be no moratorium, but new requirements will be imposed
The same sources insist that the draft royal decree, which will be detailed to the sector and which the Government hopes will be well received, does not imply in any case a moratorium: new developments can continue, although subject to the standards and requirements that are set.
The regulation establishes specific conditions for installations with more than 1 MW of electrical power, as they have the greatest territorial, water, and environmental impact, with the aim that Spain can select those data centers that provide more value with the least possible environmental damage.
In the energy field, and following the logic already applied to the production of renewable fuels of non-biological origin or to renewable hydrogen, the draft introduces the obligation that the consumption of data centers be predominantly renewable, with a minimum of 80% until the share of renewables exceeds 90% of the national electricity 'mix'.
This consumption must be additional: each new megawatt (MW) of demand must be linked to a MW of new renewable generation installed in the 18 months prior to the start-up of the 'data center', either through self-consumption or through long-term contracts (PPA).
The supply will be verified hour by hour, so that, in each operating period, at least 80% of the energy used must come from renewable sources generated in that same hour.
In addition, data center projects that request access to the electrical grid will have to demonstrate that they meet these criteria to obtain access and connection rights.
Failure to comply with the obligations will entail increasing surcharges on charges and tolls and, ultimately, the loss of access rights. These surcharges will compensate for the additional cost that the breach of the obligations of additionality and hourly correlation of renewable consumption may transfer to the system and, by extension, to the electricity bill.
Conditions for connecting to the grid and efficient water use
Data center projects that are already in processing will have six months to adapt to the new requirements and prove it —three months if they are pending a grid access tender— or, failing that, they may waive their access and connection rights without execution of guarantees.
Given the high water and energy needs of these facilities, it is established that they must comply with the best levels of energy and water efficiency defined by the specific European labeling for data centers, which is being developed by the European Commission and whose entry into force is expected within a year.
The draft decree provides that, once that community standard is in force, the highest level, category "A", will be required both in energy efficiency and in water consumption.
In terms of resilience and digital sovereignty, the text incorporates obligations such as that the operation of the center and the control of the data linked to that operation fall under entities subject to EU law; that the data, metadata, and records processed within the framework of the operation remain within the community territory; and that effective control of access from third countries is maintained.
Responsible declaration on digital sovereignty
The Ministry of Digital Transformation and Public Function, within the scope of its competencies, will verify compliance with these conditions, the violation of which could ultimately result in the loss of access and connection rights to the electrical grid.
Thus, all data centers that exceed a certain threshold will be required to submit a responsible declaration in which they assure that they will respect the established digital sovereignty criteria.
Likewise, the 'data centers' that intend to host information from any Public Administration or related to national security must expressly commit that such data will not leave the territory of the European Union (EU).