The Government has submitted a new version of the draft royal decree on data centres to the Council of State, which has yet to complete its legislative process. The text retains the requirement to meet at least 80 per cent of consumption with additional renewable electricity, on an hourly basis, but introduces a phased timetable for certain facilities.
The transitional arrangement applies to centres with more than 10 MW of feed-in capacity that are not yet fully operational when the regulation comes into force. Their operators may either meet the target of 80 per cent renewable consumption on an hourly basis from day one, or opt for a transition period extending until 2031. In the latter case, they must cover 60 per cent of their consumption with renewables during peak hours until 31 December 2028; from 2029 until the end of the period, the minimum will be 70 per cent during those hours and 60 per cent during off-peak hours.
To qualify for this timetable, the facilities must join the Automatic Power Reduction System (SRAP), managed by Red Eléctrica. This mechanism allows their supply to be reduced or interrupted, without financial compensation, if the electricity system needs to relieve demand.
The draft also provides for a period of up to 60 months for facilities that form part of European Union initiatives and are strategic projects aimed at digital sovereignty to implement measures for self-consumption or the procurement of renewable electricity. This provision applies to European artificial intelligence gigafactories, which will remain subject to the general obligation to source their electricity from renewables.
The new version extends the period prior to the centre’s commissioning during which associated renewable generation may have been installed from 18 to 36 months, and reduces the duration of forward power purchase agreements from ten to six years. It also allows for the inclusion of battery storage and the crediting of electricity from solar photovoltaic plants regardless of their age, provided they do not have fixed-term renewable electricity purchase contracts in place when the Royal Decree comes into force.
