Investors are expected to be required to secure the right to use the land on which the data center will be built for at least ten years.
If they do not own the land, they will need to submit a lease or a concession agreement of equivalent duration.
Through this measure, the Ministry aims to exclude applications for facilities that exist only on paper and tie up grid capacity that could otherwise serve mature investment projects.
Equally significant is the requirement for a letter of guarantee of €200,000 per MW, valid for at least three years. This means that a 200 MW data center would require a guarantee of €40 million, which may be called upon if the investor fails to comply with the prescribed obligations and deadlines.
Strict financial criteria will also apply.
For projects connected to the transmission system operated by the Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO/ADMIE), the investor must have recorded annual turnover exceeding 30% of the estimated construction cost in at least one of the preceding three financial years.
Given that construction costs are estimated at €10 million per MW, a 200 MW investment would require annual turnover exceeding €600 million.
Investors wishing to extend their grid capacity reservation will be required to pay €2,000 per MW for each month of extension, up to a total extension period of two years.
The required supporting documents will also include an approved environmental impact assessment and preliminary approval of a building permit.
Investors will bear the cost of the works required to connect their facilities, as well as any necessary transmission system reinforcements attributable exclusively to those facilities, even where capacity is available at the extra-high-voltage substation.
As regards environmental requirements, at least 60% of each data center’s annual electricity consumption will have to be covered by renewable energy sources.
A long-term electricity supply agreement and a technical report must also be submitted within 12 months of the issuance of the connection offer.
Priority in the assessment of applications will be given to large projects exceeding 200 MW, provided that they incorporate battery storage capable of supplying at least 80% of their maximum power demand for six hours.
Every two months, IPTO will assess the capacity of existing extra-high-voltage substations to accommodate new data centers and classify them as saturated, partially saturated or non-saturated.
An extra-high-voltage substation will be classified as partially saturated when its capacity to accommodate new electricity demand projects is less than 50% of its estimated total capacity to serve such projects.
To ensure consistent monitoring of the sector, a Data Center Register will be established at the competent Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE).