Catalunya’s plans to expand artificial-intelligence infrastructure face a constraint in the electricity grid: the Generalitat, the Catalan government, has identified 26 potential data-centre projects across the territory which could require nearly 2,000 MW of power.
For residents and businesses near proposed sites, the issue is whether grid capacity can support large new consumers while meeting the needs of existing industry. The government has designated seven priority areas to organise the projects’ development.
Data centres support services including banking operations, social networks and medical records. AI adds demand because training and operating models requires substantial computing capacity and electricity.
Barcelona’s connectivity attracts operators
Barcelona has submarine-cable connections through the Mediterranean, land links to Europe and telecommunications operators, factors that support its position in the data-centre market. Equinix operates two data centres in Catalunya, in the Zona Franca industrial area of Barcelona and in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.
Valentín Pinuaga, Equinix’s chief executive in Spain, told Racó Català’s reporting, based on interviews with the Agència Catalana de Notícies (ACN), that access to power is now the sector’s main obstacle.
“Distribution networks can become so saturated that a data centre may be built but unable to begin operating because there is no available capacity.”
The Generalitat considers data centres strategic infrastructure for AI development and aims to strengthen Catalunya’s role as a digital node in southern Europe.
Environmental group warns of competing demand
Ecologistes en Acció questions whether the economic and employment return from data centres offsets their electricity use. Agustí Emperador, an activist and doctor of physics with the organisation, said AI-focused facilities could take a substantial share of the electricity available in an area and make it harder for other industrial projects to locate there.
“It is a form of energy gentrification.”
The group cited the planned data centre in Flix as an example, saying its electricity consumption could be comparable with that of the Seat factory in Martorell while employing far fewer people.
Vladimir Estivill, professor of engineering at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, told ACN that locally based data centres can keep information within the European regulatory framework and reduce reliance on infrastructure outside the European Union. He described a balance between digital infrastructure and its environmental effect.
Source reporting
- Racó Català: AI puts the electricity network to the test, including ACN interviews with Equinix, Ecologistes en Acció and Vladimir Estivill.
Reported by Racó Català.
