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What’s Fueling Spain’s Data Center Growth—and Will It Last?
In this episode, host Reese Tisdale is joined by Bluefield colleagues Keith Hays and Chloé Meyer to unpack the rapid expansion of data centers in Spain and the growing challenges related to water and energy management. With Aragon alone seeing over €33 billion in announced investment, this conversation explores the trade-offs between hyperscale growth, resource constraints, and local response.
Key topics covered:
Driven by AI, global data consumption is accelerating and Spain is emerging as a major data center hub. Developers are now facing growing pressure to balance growth with limited resources like land, energy, and water.
Spain offers lower energy and land costs, fast-track approvals, and strategic geographic positioning compared to more constrained FLAP-D markets.
Developers are taking different approaches: Meta is revising its cooling strategies with air and dry-cooling to reduce water use, while AWS is investing in leak detection, offset projects, and local water infrastructure.
While regions like Aragon are expanding rapidly, others like Lleida are pushing back over water use and long-term economic benefits.
AI workloads are accelerating data center demand, leading to higher energy density and cooling needs.
If you enjoy listening to The Future of Water Podcast, please tell a friend or colleague, and if you haven’t already, please click to follow this podcast wherever you listen.
If you’d like to be informed of water market news, trends, perspectives and analysis from Bluefield Research, subscribe to Waterline, our weekly newsletter published each Wednesday.
Related Research & Analysis:
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By Reese Tisdale
4.9
3333 ratings
In this episode, host Reese Tisdale is joined by Bluefield colleagues Keith Hays and Chloé Meyer to unpack the rapid expansion of data centers in Spain and the growing challenges related to water and energy management. With Aragon alone seeing over €33 billion in announced investment, this conversation explores the trade-offs between hyperscale growth, resource constraints, and local response.
Key topics covered:
Driven by AI, global data consumption is accelerating and Spain is emerging as a major data center hub. Developers are now facing growing pressure to balance growth with limited resources like land, energy, and water.
Spain offers lower energy and land costs, fast-track approvals, and strategic geographic positioning compared to more constrained FLAP-D markets.
Developers are taking different approaches: Meta is revising its cooling strategies with air and dry-cooling to reduce water use, while AWS is investing in leak detection, offset projects, and local water infrastructure.
While regions like Aragon are expanding rapidly, others like Lleida are pushing back over water use and long-term economic benefits.
AI workloads are accelerating data center demand, leading to higher energy density and cooling needs.
If you enjoy listening to The Future of Water Podcast, please tell a friend or colleague, and if you haven’t already, please click to follow this podcast wherever you listen.
If you’d like to be informed of water market news, trends, perspectives and analysis from Bluefield Research, subscribe to Waterline, our weekly newsletter published each Wednesday.
Related Research & Analysis:
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