Spain has softened its proposed data center energy decree without abandoning its core. The revised proposal, unveiled on Monday, raises the threshold for the rules to apply from facilities above 1 megawatt to those above 10 megawatts, extends the window for matching new renewable generation from 18 months before a facility starts operating to 36 months, removes the time limit for solar, and offers a transition period of up to five years to reach the clean power targets, Reuters reported, citing energy ministry officials. Bloomberg, reporting from a copy of the draft, adds the glide path: 60 percent renewable matching in peak hours until 2029, 70 percent in 2029, and 80 percent in 2032.
What did not move is the principle that made the Spanish draft the most demanding in Europe. Renewable energy must still cover at least 80 percent of a data center’s supply for every hour of operation, matched hour by hour rather than on an annual netting basis. The original proposal would have imposed that 80 percent level all day immediately; the revision phases it instead.
The context is scale and politics. Spain’s land, sun and grid have attracted AI infrastructure projects worth tens of billions of euros, with Amazon, Microsoft, Blackstone and Merlin Properties among the investors named by Bloomberg, and projects seeking grid connections totalling more than 10 gigawatts in Datacenter Dynamics’ reporting. Industry group SpainDC expects IT capacity to rise nearly sixfold to 2.5 gigawatts between 2025 and 2030. Against that, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called data centers an extractive business, and officials argue they push up electricity prices while adding little local value.
For operators, the revision converts an immediate compliance cliff into a procurement programme with dates, which is financeable, while keeping hourly matching as the destination. That makes Spain the test case for whether hourly renewable matching, also under discussion in greenhouse gas accounting standards, can govern real buildouts. The draft still requires public process before enforcement, and the five year transition will be the clause every other European regulator now reads first.