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Do you trust AI to tell you where to put your next AI data center? The minds at the Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science (INESC TEC), a Portuguese research center, have developed and validated a tool that they say, “identifies where Portugal’s national transmission grid can safely connect new large-scale data center clusters, ranging from 500 MW to 1 GW.”
In a release, INESC TEC cites the recent announcement of Microsoft’s $10 billion investment in a data center in southern Portugal that will host more than 12,500 processors as one example of a surge in data center projects across southern Europe. Leadership in solar power in Portugal, Spain and Greece and strategic location are factors, the organization states, but questions remain about the power grid. “Finding the right location for a 500 MW data center does not depend solely on the size of a transformer; it depends on grid behavior during critical hours and even under fault conditions,” said Ricardo Bessa, a researcher at INESC TEC. “Our methodology tests these realities and translates them into a viable list of connection options.”
“Portugal has a real window to host the next wave of hyperscale and AI data centers in Europe, but grid capacity is the gatekeeper. With our validated hosting-capacity tool, we can clearly identify where the transmission network can support hundreds of megawatts today and where it will be ready by 2030,” said João Peças Lopes, director and researcher at INESC TEC.
“Artificial Intelligence Is Portugal’s New Horizon,” a Site Selection Investment Profile prepared for AICEP, was published in January 2022. Data center development in Portugal was also central to this January 2025 Investment Profile.
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