Iberdrola Seeks to Enter Spanish Data Centre Market for AI
In order to continue digitally transforming its business operations, Iberdrola has expressed interest in building a data centre portfolio.
The Spanish energy company, according to Bloomberg Law, is seeking partners for a new joint data centre venture. It is aiming to provide 200MW of data centre capacity in Spain by 2030, with the long-term goal of creating a portfolio of data centres that boast 1.2GW of capacity.
Iberdrola is a Spanish multinational electric utility company based in Bilbao, Spain. It boasts a workforce of more than 40,000 employees and serves roughly 30 million customers.
Harnessing technology to drive business value
New technologies are already driving huge widespread digital demand, with customers putting pressure on their data centre providers to offer more resources and greater access.
With this in mind, having seen the potential benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing in driving innovation, Iberdrola is keen to capitalise on this opportunity in Spain by developing data centres.
The company has already met with investment funds, according to Bloomberg Law, to replicate a strategy it has already used across its renewable energy and power network areas of business.
Having consistently worked to establish key partnerships across the energy sector, Iberdrola is one of the largest producers of wind power in the world. As of 2023, the company operates at a capacity of 62,045MW, with 41,246MW of these being from renewable sources.
Strongly committed to sustainable innovation, in March 2024, Iberdrola agreed to a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Amazon. This arrangement will see the company buy wind energy generated at Iberdrola’s East Anglia Three offshore wind farm off the coast of the UK.
Additionally, Iberdrola and Amazon also have PPAs for wind and solar capacity across Europe, the United States and Asia-Pacific. This is in addition to agreements with Meta, Vodafone and Telefónica.
Expressing a desire to move into the data centre market, Iberdrola is keen to drive further demand for its core business.
Capitalising on a growing data centre market in Spain
The data centre sector across Spain is continuing to grow. According to Research and Markets, the data centre market across the country has an extremely strong outlook and is set to grow from US$1.9bn (2023) to US$2.85bn at a CAGR of 6.99%.
This is in part due to Spain’s connectivity. The majority of the country’s submarine cables can be found in the south, helping to connect Europe to Africa. There are currently around 143 Spanish data centres, with the majority located in and around key locations Madrid and Barcelona.
Growing new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud services are also contributing to an increase in demand, helping to grow Spanish industries by enhancing decision-making and automating tasks.
As a result, technology giants like Microsoft are continuing to invest in Spain, pledging €1.97bn (US$2.1bn) to fund AI and cloud computing in the country for the next two years.
The company joins numerous competitor companies seeking to expand their investment opportunities across Europe, including Google working to grow its data centre presence across the continent.
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