Iberdrola Group and Echelon create a joint venture to develop data centres in Spain
- Iberdrola Group, of which Iberdrola España is part and which will hold 20% of the joint venture, will provide land with grid connection and supply 24/7 electricity to the centres
- Echelon, a leading hyperscale data centre infrastructure operator in Europe, headquartered in Ireland, will hold the remaining 80% and will be responsible for permits, design, commercialisation and daily operations of the joint venture
- The first project of this partnership will be a data centre with a processing capacity of 144 MW, backed by a secured 230 MW grid connection
- With this agreement, Iberdrola Group strengthens its strategy to provide tech companies with access to secure, clean and competitive energy and to promote electrification
Iberdrola Group data centre
Iberdrola Group, of which Iberdrola España is part, and Echelon Data Centres, a leading owner and operator of hyperscale data centre infrastructure in Europe, have announced a strategic joint venture to build and operate data centres in Spain. This is the largest binding agreement of its kind in Europe between an energy company and a developer of this type of technological infrastructure.
Through this partnership, Iberdrola Group will hold a 20% stake via its subsidiary CPD4Green and will be responsible for identifying and securing land with grid connectivity suitable for developing the data centres. In addition, it will supply 24/7 electricity to the centres.
Echelon, a tech company based in Dublin and owned by Starwood Capital Group, will hold 80% of the joint venture and will handle development, design, commercialisation and the day-to-day management of the company.
The first project under this joint venture will be Madrid Sur, a 160,000 m² complex offering 144 megawatts (MW) of data processing capacity, with a secured 230 MW grid connection. The centre, expected to create around 1,500 jobs and to be operational before 2030, will demand 1 terawatt hour (TWh) of electricity. This will be supplied by an on-site solar photovoltaic plant, complemented by additional clean energy capacity from Iberdrola Group.
A high-growth business opportunity
Iberdrola Group already supplies more than 11 TWh of electricity to tech companies and infrastructure operators globally, making it a leader in powering data centres. In addition, its subsidiary CPD4Green, which focuses on facilitating the development of data infrastructure, already has a portfolio of sites totalling 700 MW in Spain, with the potential for an additional 5,000 MW.
In recent years, Spain has become the gateway for global data entering the European continent. More than 70% of data traffic into Europe passes through Spain, thanks to its fibre-optic network, submarine cable connections, access to clean and competitive energy, and its power grid.
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