Nabiax has begun construction of ADC3, a new data centre in Alcalá de Henares, in which it plans to invest around 800 million euros. The facility will have an IT power capacity of up to 100 MW and will be developed in phases until 2029, with the aim of meeting the demand for cloud and artificial intelligence services from hyperscale clients.
The project completes the expansion of the operator’s campus in the Madrid town, where the first two phases currently provide 22.3 MW of IT power. Once the development is complete, its portfolio in Spain will have a potential capacity of up to 135 MW, compared with the 35 MW of installed capacity across its assets when Aermont Capital acquired the company at the end of 2024.
Construction has been awarded to Ferrovial, whilst Redeia will develop a substation with a capacity of over 100 MW to supply the power required to operate the campus. The phased roll-out will enable the commissioning of capacity to be aligned with changes in demand.
ADC3 will utilise a closed-loop cooling system which, according to Nabiax’s estimates, will prevent the continuous consumption of mains water during its operation. It will also run on renewable energy and has been designed to achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating.
The start of construction was marked on Thursday 17 September with the laying of the foundation stone, at a ceremony attended by the President of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and the Mayor of Alcalá de Henares, Judith Piquet. The company estimates that the project will create more than 1,000 direct and indirect jobs, although it has not specified how these will be distributed between the construction phase and subsequent operations.
During the meeting, Pablo Ruiz-Escribano, CEO of Nabiax, called for greater legal certainty regarding the draft royal decree being prepared by the Government to regulate the energy efficiency and sustainability of data centres. The text sets out obligations relating to energy and water consumption, the renewable source of electricity and the reporting of environmental indicators, amongst other aspects.
The executive warned of the difficulties in meeting all the requirements simultaneously within the proposed deadlines and called for the regulation to make a distinction for those developments that already have funding, licences and construction work underway. “The way forward is for the government and businesses to sit down and work together, so that sustainability and investment move in the same direction,” he said.
