What it says
- It will affect facilities with more than 1 MW of electrical capacity, because of their territorial, water, and environmental impact.
- Digital sovereignty: whoever operates the center must be established in the EU, the operation's data, metadata, and logs must remain within EU territory, and access from third countries must be effectively controlled.
- Energy and water: back 80% of consumption, hour by hour, with newly built renewable generation, and meet the best energy and water efficiency levels of the European data center rating scheme.
- Non-compliance can end in the loss of access and connection rights to the power grid. The Ministry for Digital Transformation will check the digital requirements.
- Context: the AI Strategy estimates 2.5 GW of computing in 2030 (between 3.5 and 4 GW of electricity demand), but since 2021 more than 12 GW of access and connection rights have already been granted. The text implements a mandate of Royal Decree-Law 7/2026. The public hearing ended on September 4.
Public participation page for the draft royal decree (MITECO): www.miteco.gob.es
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