Spain DC warns that the Spanish electricity grid is not up to date to meet the demand of data centers

Spain DC warns that the Spanish electricity grid is not up to date to meet the demand of data centers

MADRID 27 NOV. (EUROPA PRESS), The executive director of the Spanish Association of Data Centers (Spain DC), Manuel Giménez, has declared that the Spanish electrical transmission and distribution network is “from the 20th century”, and has therefore warned that “six times more” must be invested than has been invested in the last fifteen years in the infrastructure to accommodate the electricadem and of the ‘data centers’.

This was Giménez’s opinion during his speech at a panel discussion held on Wednesday at the information meeting entitled ‘Green energy is key fol data centres .

This event, which was sponsored by the financial institution WiZink and organised by Europa Press, also brought together the head of data centres at PDS Spain from JLL, Francisco Vicente; the head of CPD4Green at lberdrola, Sergio Platón, and the director of the AwS data centre in Aragón David Fernández, around a round table discussion on the integration of datacentres with renewable energies and efficient infrastructures.

Specifically, Giménez stressed that the electricity transmission and distribution network in Spain is “from the 20th century” and is not prepared for the electrical demand that data centers will require.

The reports we have available show that either we invest six times more than we have been investing in the last 15 years or this revolution will passus by,” added the executive director of Spain DC

OPTIMISM WHEN IT COMES TO MEETING DEMAND WITH RENEWABLEENERGY

The other speakers who spoke at the panel were more optimistic on this issue, as they stated that this demand can be met with renewable energy

Specifically, Vicente has stated that there is a pact for neutral data centres’ an important initiative in the sector”, which establishes that this industry must be supplied with 100% renewable energy in the coming years, so there are many that are already complying with it.

The head of data centres at PDs Spain from JLL has also warned that both access and reliability must be guaranteed in this supply of renewable energy to data centres.

Sergio Platón commented that Spain has a position with a high penetration of renewable energies, which means that in terms of supply it is better positioned compared to other European countries.

The head of CPD4 Green at lberdrola, said:

Data centres, all large-scale ones, also help with this energy use, since they use a much greater efficiency than small data centres due to an economy of scale in the end,

For his part, Fern¡ndez has also followed the same line as the previous ones by highlighting that AwS is carrying out renewable projects all over the world, more than 500 projects, 79 of them located in Spain.

Our operations use 100% renewable energy, and in the specific case of Spain, in Aragon, we have been doing so since the day we launched it in November 2022,” added the director of AWS data center in Aragon.

To close the event, WiZink’s commercial director, Femando Summers, said that the financial institution intends to support this type of debate.

Summers concluded.

We want to support the debate around the most important challenges we face as a society, such as the green transition and the digital economy.

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Spain DC warns that the Spanish electricity grid is not up to date to meet the demand of data centers, source