He Ministry for ecological transition and demographic challenge (Miteco) will do, by law, that Data centers located in Spain publish diverse information about the energy they consume. For this, he has already presented a draft of Royal Decree, open since last 8 to allegations (until September 15), which reflects that, among other things, he wants to make them have to publish their energy and water consumption, in addition to data on other indicators related to sustainability.
According to the text, the facilities that have a connected power equal to or greater than 500kw must make public data on their consumption of electricity and drinking water, the origin of all the energy they have used, the percentage of the same corresponding to renewable energy, the type of refrigerant used and the efficiency in the use of resources. Also the level of reuse of the residual heat they generate. Of course, whenever it is possible to reuse it, both economic and technical.
This regulation is in line with a European Union directive, the Energy Efficiency Directive, which must be implemented at the State level, and which imposes on Member States the obligation to ask data centers to inform about certain indicators related to energy efficiency, water consumption and the reuse of their residual heat.
Data centers that have a power connection greater than 1MW will also have to meet several more requirements. One of them is the obligation to have a plan to reuse residual heat generated, which must be approved by the corresponding regional authority. This plan must also be presented and approved to initiate the construction of the data center.
Data centers with power connection of more than 100MW will also have to prove that they meet the practices that are considered better within the sector, and be within 15% of facilities with the best performance in energy consumption, water use and
The Royal Decree, as it is now, will collect various socioeconomic obligations that data centers will have to meet. Among them, the obligation for the companies responsible for developing them to inform the number of jobs, both direct and indirect, that generate through their projects. Also the qualifications necessary to cover these positions, the contribution of these facilities to territorial cohesion, and the impact that the data center in question has on the economy, both in the premises and in the national.
Once the period of allegations is finished, it will spend time until the Royal Decree is approved and enters into force. From then on, data centers will have to Publish the required information every year through the Ministry’s website.
