2025-01-24 14:22:00 :
(Bloomberg) — EDP SA may use land from its coal-fired power plants in Spain that are being decommissioned for data centers as artificial intelligence drives demand for new computing power.
The Portuguese utility had previously planned hydrogen and battery projects at a number of sites. But with the rise of artificial intelligence, the company is now looking at building data centers because grid connections are so valuable, Chief Financial Officer Rui Teixeira said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As Europe electrifies its economy, connecting to the grid can sometimes take many years due to high demand. Spain and Portugal also have the advantage of relatively cheap green electricity, which is driving investment in local AI infrastructure. Aurora Energy Research Ltd. said in a November report that electricity use by Iberian data centers is expected to surge more than eightfold within a decade.
EDP aims to become coal-free by the end of this year. In 2023, it asked Spain’s electricity system operator for authorization to close its remaining coal-fired power plants in the country. The company is converting the Abonno 2 plant to run on natural gas. The company also owns the Abono I, Soto 3 and Los Barrios coal-fired power plants.
Technology companies including Microsoft Corp. have also set ambitious clean energy goals for themselves, and EDP is among the electricity producers that have signed contracts to sell output from renewable energy projects to the companies.
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