Plans are afoot to build a 250MW datacentre on the British overseas territory of Gibraltar by 2033 that its developers claim will run on power sourced independently from the island’s electrical grid.
The project – based at the port of Gibraltar – will be the first build to be overseen by development company Pelagos Data Centres, and is on course to become one of the island’s largest ever infrastructure initiatives.
According to Pelagos Data Centres, the development is expected to attract investment of around £1.8bn and will create up to 100 permanent jobs once completed.
Its construction is expected to proceed in five phases, which will require the recruitment of up to 500 individuals to work on the project.
The first stage of the development is on course for completion by 2027. After this, the developers anticipate the remaining phases will be completed at approximately 18-month intervals.
“Funded entirely by private investment and backed by the government of Gibraltar, the Pelagos Data Centres Project represents a transformative step for the territory’s digital and economic landscape,” the company said in a statement.
“It will also make an important contribution to meeting Europe’s demand for datacentre capacity, positioning Gibraltar as a significant new node in Europe’s digital infrastructure that can serve the broader needs of the UK and continental Europe.”
Pelagos Data Centres chair Konstantin Sokolov said the project “marks a new chapter for Gibraltar and for Europe’s digital capabilities” and will position the island to tap into the growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
“Just as electricity and the internet transformed society in the past, AI is now emerging as the defining technology of our time, with the power to redefine entire industries, economies and communities,” said Sokolov.
“With our new facility, Pelagos Data Centres is laying the foundation for the next era of AI-driven innovation, positioning Gibraltar as a strategic hub and enabling Europe’s brightest minds to unlock the full potential of this revolutionary technology.”
The project is also aiming to host AI workloads using renewable energy sources while minimising the risk posed to the security of the island’s electrical grid.
This will be achieved by powering the site from on-site generators that will run on a mix of renewable energy sources and liquified natural gas, which the developers claim means the project will have no impact on the island’s electricity supply.
The developers have also committed to ensuring the site runs completely on renewable energy by 2030, and repurposing the site’s waste heat for use by other community projects on Gibraltar.
Joe Bossano, Gibraltar’s minister for economic development and inward investment, said the development will future-proof the island’s economy.
“This is the most significant infrastructure investment in Gibraltar since the early 1990s, when the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party Government brought state-of-the-art telecommunications as inward investment from the United States and made possible the creation of a centre for online services,” said Bossano. “Then, we future-proofed Gibraltar’s economy. Today, we are doing so again.”
News of the project comes at a time with demand for large-scale datacentres is on the rise, with the UK government in the midst of an ambitious plan to build out the country’s compute capacity due to the growing demand for AI services.
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