The SINES Data Campus is one of Europe’s most remarkable data centre projects.
When the facility is fully constructed in 2030, its computing capacity is expected to top 1.2GW, placing it amongst the world’s most powerful data centres.
More pertinently, given the ever-growing scrutiny on the environmental impacts of AI, the campus is – and will continue to be – powered wholly by renewable energy, while it also uses seawater for all its cooling needs.
A new investment of €695m (US$812.6m) from Nscale (which operates the site alongside Start Campus and Microsoft) has put a fresh focus on the project lately, reminding data centre operators and hyperscalers alike what sustainability can look like in this burgeoning, resource-intensive sector.
Start Campus, the firm that develops, operates and manages the buildings at the site, was founded in Lisbon in 2020 and quickly identified something special about Sines, a small town on Portugal’s Alentejo coast.
