“In Aragon you have made us feel at home,” he said. Suzana CuricSwedish by birth, almost Aragonese by adoption and the head of Spain’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) the day the company announced its most powerful investment in this autonomous community: 15.7 billion euros over a decade to expand its three existing data centers and build one more. The global cloud computing division of the e-commerce giant thus six-folded its initial plans in a region that has become a great object of desire for the developers of these infrastructures. Not only on a Spanish or Iberian scale, but also on a continental scale. Two weeks ago a new knock came: 7.5 billion from the American investment fund Blackstone for a data center in Calatorao (Zaragoza). It will be your biggest European projectwhich is said soon.
The reason why this territory of emptied Spain, with an unbalanced population—almost all concentrated in the capital—and surrounded by desert, mountains and silence, is becoming a pole of attraction for technological companies was developed by Curic herself: “It is “Above all, because of the large and available land, access to renewable energy, talent and because it is a very important strategic center, not only in Spain but looking towards southern Europe.”
These are the same reasons given by Alberto Granados, chief executive of Microsoft in Spain. A company that is promoting campuses and data centers in Aragon with a disbursement of more than 6,000 million euros. Like Amazon, the firm co-founded by Bill Gates has declared it a strategic region, promising well paying jobs and cluster effect: the more data centers that are installed, the more likely it is that other technological investments will proliferate around them.
When choosing locations for data centers, Microsoft – like the rest of the big names in the sector – takes into account seven criteria: that there are sustainable, abundant, reliable and stable energy sources, as well as multiple network connections. high capacity; market demand; proximity to population centers and business locations; the availability of specialized digital talent and an innovative local technology industry; the existence of free land; and possible local incentives and support from public administrations. And in all of them, Aragón – the fourth largest and also the fourth least densely populated – scores well or very well.
The community has everything necessary for a data center, one of those infrastructures that allows you to send an email, watch a series on a platform or feed artificial intelligence. Firstly, energy and water: although large technology companies remain silent about what they consume, the most accurate estimates point to a total annual electricity demand of around 200 terawatt hours (TWh), almost as much as the total annual demand in Spain. A figure that will only increase in the coming years. And, both for sustainability and economy – although intermittent, it is much cheaper than that from fossil or nuclear sources –, it will be renewable.
Aragón has everything to win in the field of clean energy. Its windmills and solar panels already produce double what is consumed in the community: in a single year, last, it increased its production by almost a fifth and is the second Spanish community that injects the most green electricity each day into the national electricity market. “In Zaragoza, for example, there are 220 days (per year) of wind,” he recalls. Alejandro Serranoprofessor at IESE. Added to this is the sun, which is also huge – with almost twice as many hours per year as in central and northern Europe – and a network that is noticeably less overloaded than in other Spanish regions.
The available land is also key: not only for the installation of the data centers themselves, but also for launching new photovoltaic and wind plants to power them. “Aragon is somewhat larger than the Netherlands, but it has 1.3 million inhabitants compared to 17 million. And it has the lowest threshold of seismic activity in Spain, which makes it very suitable,” recalls Serrano.
Between Madrid and Barcelona… And just a step away from France
Aragon is also on the Madrid-Barcelona axis, at the epicenter of 70% of Spain’s wealth and with good data traffic—especially, again, in the province of Zaragoza. The proximity to France – and, therefore, also to the rest of Europe – does the rest. “Aragon is a nerve center in terms of logistics, not only in Spain,” emphasizes an AWS spokesperson in conversation with this newspaper. Also remember that communication delays “are substantially reduced” the closer the center is to the end data consumers.
“We are talking about a community that is very well located from the point of view of telecommunications, which gives it lower latency,” he explains. Irene Uncetaassociate professor in the department of Operations, Innovation and Data Sciences from Esade. “When one of these companies chooses a location, it does so to serve as wide a region as possible. And Aragon allows it to serve the entire Iberian Peninsula and also the south of France.” Unceta thus opens the door for some of these investors to end up going one step further, privileging this community over some departments in southern France when opening new data centers. The game is open, and Aragón plays with better cards.
Open arms policy
There are several businessmen in the sector consulted who prefer not to appear by name, waiting for their data center projects – there are two underway in Zaragoza municipalities alone – to receive endorsement in the form of a declaration of regional interest. This is, in fact, another of the reasons that attracts technology companies: the open arms of a regional administration that cuts many procedures in half and makes these investments easier.
This receptive policy began last term, with the Government of the socialist Javier Lambán, and has continued with the Executive of the popular Jorge Azcón. All Amazon and Microsoft projects have had this seamless support. This and, as the vice president and regional Industry Minister, Mar Vaquero, emphasizes, “an uninterrupted social peace since 1989” — unions, government and employers sit down, talk and usually agree — have also contributed to the emergence of facilities.
The water challenge
The water problem, the great Achilles heel—and the great environmental challenge—of data centers, is less so in Aragon. Especially if, as the developers have announced, the new facilities have closed cooling circuits or, at least, return all the resources they capture to the water system. However, this point is already the subject of contention: irrigators are following the issue closely, fearful that these data farms will receive favorable treatment in relation to the countryside. In particular, in times of drought.
“Water is the most delicate point. It remains to be seen what technological solutions these large companies provide: they will have to opt for methods that, although less efficient than evaporation, consume much less,” adds Serrano, from IESE. “Even though closed circuits are used, it is a very water-intensive business. It is a challenge not only for Aragon, but for any other Spanish community that aspires to have this type of infrastructure,” says Unceta, from Esade. “We must also ask ourselves to what extent the opinion of the populations close to the centers has been taken into account, who are the ones that will be impacted the most… Positively or negatively.”
Follow all the information Economy and Business in Facebook and xor in our weekly newsletter
