Merlin wants to have its ‘data center’ built in the Parc Logístic de la Zona Franca in the last quarter of the year to start operating at the end of this year. The Ibex 35 Socimi is advancing in construction and is about to close the building, of about 20,000 square meters, while negotiating with potential clients to land in Barcelona, ??as explained by the CEO of the listed company, Ismael Clemente , this Wednesday.
The Barcelona data center is being built in parallel to those in Madrid, in Getafe, and the Basque Country, in Rivabellosa. The one in the Free Zone accumulates some delay, but Clemente hopes to speed up the work to start with the technical installation as soon as possible. The building provides for a curtain façade with photovoltaic plants.
Merlin plans to invest some 150 million in each of these ‘data centers’, a high figure for a still pioneering initiative in Spain and above the 100 million originally raised. In total, more than 500 million. As Clemente has specified, the launch of the technological infrastructure will be done with 9 megawatts of power, with three three-megawatt modules. The company’s objective is to reach 70 megabytes in the second phase, next year.
These are figures that are still light years away from the installed power in the United States. In North Virginia, for example, more than 2,600 megawatts are installed, which is 26 times the capacity of Spain. In our country there are barely 100 megabytes operating. The Government, however, has plans to gradually increase said power, a project welcomed by Merlin, up to 500 or 600 megawatts in 2025. The Iberian Peninsula, due to the fact that the submarine cables touch land in Spain and Portugal, has a privileged position to compete in the field of ‘data centers’ with Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris and Dublin, added the executive.
Merlin is negotiating, in turn, the possibility of renting its ‘data centers’ to national or international companies interested in occupying these infrastructures. According to Clemente, there are conversations in which progress is being made, although he does not expect to close any contract until the property is not operational. Those interested want to test the connections and, although it admits a certain expectation in the market, the agreements, which should be in a multi-tenant format, will not arrive until the end of the year.
The Socimi also plans to build a ‘data center’ in Portugal with similar characteristics to the Spanish ones, although at this time the Portuguese project is further behind schedule, in the license submission phase.
