MADRID (Reuters) -Europe’s largest utility Iberdrola and Ireland-based data centre operator Echelon are creating a joint venture to develop and operate data centres in Spain, the Spanish firm said on Monday.
Iberdrola sees booming demand for data centres as one of the main drivers of future growth both for its grids and renewable energy businesses.
With developments like artificial intelligence and cloud computing expected to increase demand for data centre capacity, companies like Iberdrola can benefit both from selling them energy and connecting them to the grid.
The Spanish firm will have a 20% stake in the joint venture, providing energy and land connected to the grid.
Echelon will hold the remaining 80%, handling permitting, design, marketing and day-to-day management of data centres.
The joint venture already has a project in the pipeline: a 160,000 square meters complex with a data processing capacity of 144 megawatts. It has already secured a 230 MW electricity connection.
Expected to be operational by 2030, its 1 terawatt hour demand will be covered by a planned solar plant and additional green energy supplied by Iberdrola.
Iberdrola already supplies 11 TWh of energy to data centres in countries such as Spain, Britain, the U.S. and Germany. Last year, it created a data centre unit, CPD4Green, and had been seeking a partner.
“The alliance signed with Echelon will allow us to value our portfolio of sites with access to electricity connection and our ability to offer these infrastructures secure, clean and competitive energy 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” said David Mesonero Molina, corporate development director of Iberdrola.
With the deal, Echelon Data Centres – whose major shareholder is private investment firm Starwood Capital Group – achieves its strategic goal to enter the Spanish market, Chief Investment Officer David Smith said.
(Reporting by Pietro LombardiEditing by Mark Potter)
