Renewable developer EDP Renováveis (EDPR) is exploring locations across Spain and Portugal to build data centers powered by renewable energy.
The company's CEO, Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade, said: "The growth opportunities for data centers in the Iberian Peninsula have been much talked about. We are currently exploring several locations to host data centers here, and we have more than 2GW of opportunities for rapid access to the electricity grids, which includes around 400MW of connections already secured."
Alongside guaranteed grid connections in Portugal and Spain, both countries offer an "abundance of energy at controlled prices, making them a great place for investments in renewable energy," said d'Andrade.
In its Q3 earnings call, Rui Teixeira, EDP’s CFO, highlighted that EDP is well-positioned to attract demand for data centers due to its competitive generation and flexible supply capabilities. This is especially true in the Iberian market, where the company has more than 2GW of grid access opportunities.
The company has signed more than 1.6GW of PPAs in 2024 so far, with “more than 65 percent of these agreements being concluded with large technology companies,” the company said. The PPAs included several in the European market. Most notably, it signed a PPA with Amazon for 473MW of capacity from the Moray West wind farm in Scotland.
According to d'Andrade, the high demand will also lead to more investment in network transmission, with data center operators seeking locations with cheap, low-carbon energy nearby.
"Even without a PPA, a data center in Portugal can have 75 percent renewable energy. This is a great calling card for many international investors, and we hope to take advantage of it,” said d'Andrade.
The data center sector in Iberia has seen a considerable upward trend over 2024. From January to September, the data center market grew 68 percent in Barcelona, from 25MW to 42MW. Aragon has reached an installed IT capacity in operation of 108MW, while the region's pipeline is around 1,800MW of IT capacity. In Portugal, IT capacities installed and in the pipeline as of September 30, 2024, are 16MW and 146MW, respectively.
