Projects for new data centres increased by 15% in the Iberian Peninsula in the second half of 2022, according to the Data Centers Snapshot report produced by the property consultants Colliers. The number of projects under development in Madrid, Barcelona, and Lisbon rose from 20 to 24 in this period,, with a total pipeline of 778 MWIT  (the energy needed by the power-hungry equipment installed).

Madrid continues to be the most attractive location for companies looking to install data centres in Spain. According to Colliers, support from public institutions was a significant incentive, with the Community of Madrid even setting up an office to drive data centre development.

A benchmark market
The growth in the number of data centres in Madrid is striking, with a 26% increase in IT power in projects under development in the second half of 2022, well above the 15% increase for Spain and Portugal as a whole. Colliers believes this figure consolidates the city's position as a benchmark market for the sector in southern Europe. At present it already has 37 data centres, some operational and others in development, with 545 MW  IT. Companies such as CyrusOne, Data4, Iron Mountain, Interxion, Thor Equities, Merlin Properties, and Prime have all chosen the region.

Growth in Barcelona was even higher in the first half of the year, with 37% more projects under development, reaching a total of 133 megawatts if we include both these new centres and those already running. The main cluster is in Cerdanyola, where three projects under construction will add 78MW IT. Local land availability and good fibre connectivity are attracting operators and it is likely that there will be new projects in the area. The companies already installed in the province include Merlin Properties, Equinix, EdgeConnex, Panattoni, Interxion, and AQ Compute.

Other significant projects
A new trend highlighted in the report is the choice of other locations outside Madrid and Barcelona for installing significant projects. These include the data centre which Merlin Properties has begun building in Vitoria (Álava), which is expected to reach 100MW IT, and the two centres which Box2Bit will install in Castilla-La Mancha, with an investment of 2.9 billion euros.

The submarine cables which terminate in cities such as Bilbao and Valencia are a major attraction for companies from the sector, and Malaga’s TechPark already has its own project thanks to a company from the Ardian fund. Meanwhile, Meta will invest a billion euros in starting up a data centre in Talavera de la Reina (Toledo), and Amazon Web Services (AWS) will invest 2.5 billion euros in three locations, including Aragon.

José María Guilleuma, head of data centres at Colliers, expects 2023 to be “an exciting year for the sector.” On the content of the report, he explained, “Although Madrid is still the main destination for investment in data centres, the limited access to power in the areas of highest demand has opened the door to other provinces which could be investment options for operators.”

^{Photo: Colliers}