The Spanish government has revised its plans to require data centers to source a large percentage of their power from renewable sources.

First reported by Bloomberg, the initial proposal had required that facilities with a capacity of 1MW or higher would be subject to the mandate. This has now been increased to more than 10MW.

The revised rules will also raise the threshold for the rules to apply, extend the time for developers to demonstrate renewable energy use and commitments, and introduce a ​transition period for meeting clean-power targets.

The new rules also revise the original requirement for every new megawatt of energy to be matched by a new megawatt ​of renewable energy installed in the 18 months before ​the facility starts operation.

The timeframe has been extended to 36 months before the start of operation. There is also now no limit on solar power.

The new rules, however, do not change the requirement that renewable energy cover at least 80 percent of data centers' energy supply for every hour of operation. The new proposal would provide data center operators with a transition period of up to five years to reach that threshold under several conditions.

Spain is becoming a key hot spot for data centers within the European market, boasting ample land and high renewable generation potential. Currently, data center projects seeking grid connections in the country total more than 10GW.

The country has seen several new proposals in recent months. This includes Omani renewable energy firm O-Green, which announced earlier this month plans for a data center project in Zaragoza, Spain.