Nostrum's Badajoz Data Center Secures Preliminary Approval for Electrical Connection

The Nostrum Evergreen Data Center project, developed by Data Riocaya at the Badajoz Logistics Platform in Spain's Extremadura region, has received preliminary administrative authorization for the electrical infrastructure required to power the campus, marking a critical milestone in the development of one of the region's largest planned digital infrastructure investments.

The authorization, published in the Official Gazette of Extremadura, covers the 220-kV field of the interconnection substation and the underground route of the power lines that will supply electricity to the future data center. The project is designed as a computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure with a grid connection capacity of up to 300MW. The initiative has been designated a Business Project of Regional Interest (PREMIA), a status that streamlines the processing of projects considered strategic for Extremadura.

The power supply system includes a 400/220kV interconnection substation and two 220kV underground high-voltage lines, each over 3.3 kilometers long. A dedicated substation for the data center will also be built, initially designed with six power transformers of up to 150MVA and capacity for future expansion. The electrical infrastructure will be essential for the campus's phased deployment. The project's environmental documentation establishes a total energy demand of 170MW, of which 110MW corresponds to critical demand, and provides for continuous operation for 8,760 hours per year.

The center's design is structured around modules with 15MW of installed power and 10MW of IT load. Each module integrates the electrical systems, UPS, batteries, and backup generation, as well as the data rooms and cooling systems. The project covers approximately 222,735 square meters (2.39 million square feet) within the Southwest European Logistics Platform. The documentation submitted by Data Riocaya outlines a scalable infrastructure with an installed capacity that could reach 500MVA, while the initially planned grid access capacity is set at 300MW.

The estimated investment totals €1.913 billion ($2.22 billion), with an expected creation of about 330 jobs and a planned start of operations in 2031. The company envisions the complex as a computing hub focused on artificial intelligence workloads and data processing. Progress on the electrical infrastructure represents one of the key milestones in the campus's development, although some steps still remain to be taken. Connecting the facilities to the transmission grid managed by the General State Administration will complete the project's power supply system.

The initiative is part of the growing concentration of large-scale digital infrastructure projects in Extremadura, which aims to leverage the availability of land and energy resources to attract high-capacity computing facilities. The region has emerged as a focal point for data center investment in Spain, as operators seek to capitalize on its abundant renewable energy potential and available land to support the escalating power demands of AI-driven workloads.