EL MUNDO reported on October 20, 2026, that Google had paused plans for a large, company-owned data-center campus in Spain while awaiting a government decree. The newspaper attributed the report to several unnamed sources and described the associated investment as worth billions of euros. Google Cloud declined to comment.
What Spain’s draft decree proposes
MITECO’s draft assessment proposes requirements for data centers connecting to Spain’s electricity networks. They include energy and water efficiency, resilience, and digital sovereignty. The draft also proposes that covered centers source 80% of their electricity from renewables, with the supply matched on an hourly basis. Its general threshold is at least 1 megawatt of grid access power, subject to the draft’s scope and exceptions.
These are proposed rules, not enacted requirements. On October 20, Xataka reported that the decree had not been formally approved and was awaiting review by Spain’s Council of State.
How the proposal differs from Google’s Madrid cloud region
EL MUNDO reported that Google’s Madrid cloud region opened in 2021 in facilities operated by third parties. The Spanish campus in the report would be company-owned, a different infrastructure model from the one used for that existing region.
