Spain plans new, stricter data centres rules, sources say

By Pietro Lombardi

MADRID, Aug 25 (Reuters) - The Spanish government plans to introduce stricter water, energy and cybersecurity rules for data centres after a deluge of projects in the country, government sources say.

The new requirements are included in a draft decree that will be open to public consultation this week, they said.

With abundant renewable energy and large swathes of empty land, Spain has emerged as one of the hottest hubs in Europe, attracting projects tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure worth tens of billions of euros.

The large number of projects allows the country to choose the best and most efficient in terms of sustainability and cybersecurity, the sources said, and that's the goal of the coming rules.

Under the draft decree, data centre operators must be established in the European Union and the data and metadata they handle must remain in the EU, with mechanisms in place to control access from third countries and stricter provisions for facilities handling data from public entities or tied to national security.

Proposed water and energy requirements will match the highest level of efficiency foreseen by a sustainability label for data centres that the EU is working on, the sources said.

The government also plans to apply renewable energy rules for data centres, similar to those in place for green hydrogen.

Renewable energy will have to cover at least 80% of their energy supply for every hour of operation. Every new megawatt of energy used must be matched by a new megawatt of renewable energy installed in the 18 months before the facility starts operation. This can happen via long-term contracts or locally installed energy facilities.

Failing to comply will lead to sanctions up to the loss of the right to connect to the power grid, the people said.

The rules will apply to facilities with more than one megawatt of power capacity and that are not yet connected to the grid. The projects already going through the permitting process will have six months to get in line with the requirements or give up their rights to connection to the grid without sanctions.

($1 = 0.8569 euros)

(Reporting by Pietro Lombardi; Editing by Aurora Ellis)