Vapat, one of Spain's leading independent wind power groups, is making its debut in the data center industry with a proposed campus of up to 160MW of IT capacity in Torrelobatón, Valladolid. The initiative, developed through the company DC Mudarra, is currently undergoing an environmental impact assessment, marking an early but significant step for the renewable energy firm as it diversifies into digital infrastructure.
The project entails the construction of two data center buildings, each housing eight IT rooms with a capacity of 10MW per room, bringing the total to 160MW once fully developed. The campus would span up to 250 hectares, according to project documents. Strategically, the future facility would be located adjacent to Vapat's San Lorenzo wind farms and near the La Mudarra electrical substation, a key node in the region's power grid, which could provide a direct and reliable renewable energy supply to the data center operations.
The estimated investment for the full development of the campus ranges between €1.6 billion and €2 billion ($1.8 billion to $2.3 billion), although Vapat has not officially confirmed a final figure. The total cost will depend on the phased implementation and the final technical specifications of the infrastructure, reflecting the scale and complexity of the undertaking.
The initiative is still in its early administrative phase and must clear the environmental assessment process before construction can move forward. This regulatory step is critical given the project's large land footprint and its proximity to existing energy infrastructure, which underscores the growing trend of energy companies leveraging their assets to enter the data center market.
Industry observers note that Vapat's move aligns with a broader pattern across Europe, where renewable energy developers are increasingly looking to co-locate data centers with power generation assets to meet the surging demand for sustainable computing capacity. The project's success could also enhance the region's digital infrastructure, positioning Valladolid as a emerging hub for data center investment in Spain.