The official narrative sounds undeniable: attract data centers, become the digital hub of Southern Europe, and accelerate artificial intelligence with multimillion-dollar investments and skilled jobs. All true. But the obvious piece is missing: electric power and the network. Without energy available at the right point and time, concrete and steel end up as stranded assets. Europe has multiplied announcements; now it must connect the megawatts. And Spain, aiming to be a hub, needs to shift from “build it and they will come” to “wire it and they will run”.
At the continental level, the scope of the challenge is well documented: the IT power of data centers in Europe will go from around 10 GW to ~35 GW by 2030, and their electricity consumption will surpass 150 TWh — roughly 5% of European demand — if the baseline scenario holds. This isn’t just a detail; it’s a system leap that demands重新规划, permits, and network funding, along with low-carbon generation that supplies it.
The European mirror not to ignore
Ireland has pioneered the brakes: the regulator (CRU) and the operator (EirGrid) conditioned new connections in Dublin on data centers providing dispatchable generation or storage equivalent to their demand; practically, a halt on new hookups in the metropolitan area until 2028. The reason wasn’t ideological but supply security.
The Netherlands implemented moratoria (Amsterdam and Haarlemmermeer) while defining national rules for hyper-scale facilities; today, restrictions remain in sensitive locations. Germany, for its part, has chosen to condition: its Energy Efficiency Law (EnEfG) mandates heat reuse (thresholds of ERF 10% in 2026, 15% in 2027, and 20% in 2028) and operational metrics reporting, aligned with the EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), which already establishes a performance database and water footprint for data centers. Three models, one message: without a network, without flexibility, and without rules, sustainable deployment is impossible.
Spain: the hub depends on the substation (not just the press release)
Spain boasts clear advantages — competitive renewables, geographic position, and submarine cables — but faces network constraints. Sector reports in Madrid and Barcelona identify persistent stagnation due to saturated nodes and a slow track for new connections, pushing projects toward Aragón, Comunidad Valenciana, Cantabria, or Extremadura. In seven months, the national pipeline grew by 20%, yet the same obstacle remains: signed capacity and connection timelines.
The industry association Spain DC has been frank: 83–85% of the network is saturated for new demand, demanding an investment plan in transmission and distribution to prevent investment leakage. The sector estimates a wave of €58 billion that Spain could capture this decade… if the grid is there. Additionally, sector consumption could triply reach ~730 MW by 2026 from ~200 MW in 2024, a ramp-up that doesn’t align with substation and line timelines unless prioritized.
The Iberian blackout on April 28 (with prolonged drops in Spain and Portugal) reminded us of another uncomfortable truth: grid resilience is finite, and flexibility —storage, demand management, inertia services— is not optional. Building GPU farms without a complete electric ecosystem supporting them is double jeopardy: risking operational issues and social perception.
A “power-first” plan to ride the AI wave
The core idea is simple: fewer inaugurations and more connections. This isn’t about halting data centers but ordering their deployment so they start on time, with low-carbon energy, system stability, and social license. Six concrete proposals:
- Electrical planning with a “digital-critical” priority lane. The 2021–2026 Transport Network Plan already foresees reinforcements, and the government has approved specific modifications and additional investments. It’s time to tag actions that enable digital nodes (400 kV where applicable, mesh networks, and reactors) and secure firm dates. Simultaneously, open the 2025–2030 process with a public capacity map for loads of >10–50 MW.
- “Cap auctions” for large loads. Auction contracted grid capacity with flexibility obligations: BESS of 2–4 hours, demand response, and contractual curtailment during peaks. Ireland already requires generation/storage equivalence as a connection condition; Spain can adapt the model without copying it.
- Real green signing. PPAs are helpful but insufficient without network support. Require large projects to include firming: batteries, capacity contracts, and stability services that provide inertia and voltage control. The European Parliament’s flexibility demands must translate into specifications and permits.
- Heat and water reuse by design. Reference German EnEfG: recover heat in new centers with growing and traceable objectives; and ensure water transparency via the European EED database. Social acceptance improves when heat warms neighborhoods and the water footprint is mitigated through free cooling, controlled adiabatic cooling, or liquid cooling.
- Transformers’ industrial policy. The bottleneck isn’t just megawatts but transformers and high/medium voltage equipment. Develop a capacity program for local manufacturing — with public procurement and soft financing — aligned with the resilience policy guiding planning.
- A single public portal with metrics. Schedules, firm MW, substation progress, and connection times must be visible to developers and the public. Less marketing, more Gantt charts: every announcement should include a “scheduled energization date” guaranteed by the network operator and distributor.
Europe needs less spurts and more coordination
Brussels has initiated with the EED (mandatory reporting and a database), but the real challenge lies with the Member States and their network operators. If each region blocks or improvises, markets offering electricity certainty will prevail: ready nodes, clear rules, one-stop shop. The question isn’t whether data centers will exist; they will. The real question is where they will connect first.
For Spain, the opportunity is tangible: independent studies project tripling installed capacity by 2026 and a decade’s worth of tens of TWh in European demand by 2030. But administrative inertia and saturated nodes threaten to push investments toward other hubs on the peninsula or outside the country. If the 21st-century economy hinges on computing and interconnection, talking about AI isn’t enough; we must fuel it. Literally.
The verdict is clear: announcing dozens of data centers without signed power is marketing, not industrial policy. By now, the only headline that counts isn’t “new MW campus,” but “energized substation on a set date, MW available, flexibility contracts signed.” If Spain wants to be the digital hub of Southern Europe, it must prove it with the grid. Because no grid, no cloud.