The Spanish government has revised its proposed decree regulating data centres environmental and energy-efficiency requirements in Spain (rtve, 26/10/2026). The revised framework softens an earlier proposal that would have required operators to meet all requirements before commencing operations and it now grants them five years to progressively comply with obligations related to energy efficiency, water use and waste heat recovery.
The application threshold of the decree has also been softened, focusing on large data centres surpassing 10 MW capacity. The regulations include a requirement for renewables to provide at least 80% of the infrastructure's consumption, allowing for the incorporation of BESS and solar PV power plants that can be commissioned up to 36 months before that of the data centre (compared to 18 months earlier).
The government stated that the changes are intended to facilitate investment in data centre infrastructure, while maintaining environmental standards. The revised regulation comes amid growing demand for data centre capacity associated with artificial intelligence and cloud computing services.
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