Spain Raises Data Center Threshold to 10MW in Revised Renewables Decree

Spain has raised the threshold at which its draft data center rules apply to 10MW from 1MW. The Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge sent the revised decree to the Council of State on October 26, Reuters reported. The text replaceWide shot of a utility-scale solar PV installation in Spain, representing the renewable energy plants required to power Spanish data center capacity.s an August draft that covered facilities of 1MW or more, which Baxtel reported at the time.

The revision follows more than 600 submissions from the sector during public consultation. The revised text keeps the core requirement that data centers cover at least 80 percent of consumption with new renewable generation, matched hour by hour. Operators can instead join the grid's Automatic Power Reduction System and follow a five-year ramp, ABC reported. Under that route a facility must cover 60 percent of its consumption in peak hours until the end of 2028. Peak-hour coverage rises to 70 percent from January 2029, and the general 80 percent rule applies once the transition ends. In exchange, the transmission system operator can disconnect the facility without compensation when the network is under stress.

The revised text extends the age limit for qualifying renewable plants to 36 months before a data center starts operating, from 18 months. It also cuts the minimum term of a long-term renewable power contract to six years from ten, El Periódico de la Energía reported. Existing solar plants without a prior power purchase agreement now count regardless of commissioning date, and battery storage counts toward the hourly correlation requirement. The transitional power usage effectiveness ceiling rises to 1.25 from 1.15 for facilities that sign grid access contracts before 2029.

The scope change narrows the rules to larger sites. Access power from the same owner at one site is aggregated toward the 10MW level. Reporting duties still begin at 500kW of IT capacity, according to El Periódico de la Energía.

The decree implements Royal Decree-Law 7/2026 of March 20, which ties data center growth to new renewable generation. Its preamble cites more than 6GW of transmission access granted to data centers since December 2023. About 6GW more has been granted in distribution since 2020.

Developers say the revision does not go far enough. Spain DC, the association of data center developers, says up to 90 percent of the €67 billion committed for 2026 to 2030 is at risk of relocating. Expansión reported that the association points to Portugal and France as alternatives.

Baxtel tracks 211 data center facilities in Spain, operated by 94 providers. Madrid accounts for 66 of them, 16 under construction, and the largest site in the country is Microsoft's Meco facility at 59MW.

The minister for Digital Transformation and the Public Service, Óscar López, said the government intends to approve the decree before the November 29 general election. "We are working on that decree and I hope we can approve it before the elections, because it is very important," he said on October 23 in a television interview reported by Europa Press and Renewable Energy Magazine. The government plans to take the text to the Council of Ministers in late October or early November under the urgent procedure.

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