Start Campus to start work on second data centre building in June

The second phase of the €8Bn, 1.2GW Start Campus data centre at Sines in Portugal will start in June.

According to the online news source ECO, work will begin on a second data centre building for Sines DC which will include four additional buildings that will come on line in phases over the next five years.

Robert Dunn, who heads the Start Campus company responsible for the project, told the news source that the SIN02-06 buildings represented the second phase of the project which stood out as one of the most ‘ready-to-build projects’ currently in development, not just in Europe, but also in the entire world.

The first building (SIN01) has been up and running since October, and during the construction phase created around 700 jobs through its chain of suppliers.

Start Campus currently employs around 70 people. “Start Campus continues to be the driver for a new IA Hub in Europe, presenting Portugal as the ideal alternative to other markets which have greater limitations, offering abundant renewable energy, access to an exceptional connectivity network to all continents”, says the company.

The investment companies behind the Sines data centres are Davidson Kempner and Pioneer Point Partners which have made the largest data centres investment ever in Portugal, totalling €8.5Bn.

The Sines DC project was described by the last PS government headed by António Costa as the “biggest overseas investment since Autoeuropa”. It is located next to a deactivated EDP power station and will run on 100% renewable energy, but will only be fully completed from 2028.

Called Sines 4.0, this mega data centre was announced in April 2021 with an initial forecasted capacity of 495MW.

Meanwhile, the energy capacity has doubled as has the construction timeline with the first phase of the project three years behind the schedule initially expected. The name was also changed to Sines DC (Sines Data Centre).

The data center industry has been growing significantly in Portugal. The most recent estimate by the Portuguese Data Center Association – PortugalDC indicates that more than €12Bn of investment could be channelled to the country over the next five years.

“Portugal is in a privileged position to capitalise on the growth of the data center industry. By addressing the challenges of sustainability, talent, and regulation, it can secure its place as a leading hub in digital and green technology in Europe,” say Carlos Paulino and Rita Lourenço, vice presidents of PortugalDC.