Facebook (Meta Platforms), through the entity Global Villacreces S.L., has submitted a development proposal to the Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha, to construct a 3.2 million sqft (300k sqm) data center campus near Talavera de la Reina, a city located ~78 miles (~125 kilometers) southwest of Madrid, Spain. According to Meta’s own experience in constructing similar data center campuses across Europe (i.e., Denmark, Ireland, and Sweden), the company expects to make a €1bn investment in the construction phase of this new data center campus in Spain.
As part of Meta’s data center expansion process in Europe, the company has identified Spain and, more specifically, the city of Talavera de la Reina, in the region of Castilla-La Mancha, as a location for the investment and construction of its new campus. Importantly, this campus will function as a key center for Meta in both Spain and southern Europe.
Facebook (Meta) Data Center – Talavera de la Reina, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
Facebook (Meta) is proposing a development project on 472 acres (191 hectares) of urban industrial land in the Torrehierro Phase 2 industrial estate, which is located 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) west of Talavera de la Reina, in the region of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. As shown below, the city of Talavera de la Reina is situated in central Spain to the southwest of Madrid.
The development project is situated adjacent to the village of Gamonal, Spain, to the west (below left), as well as the Torrehierro Phase 1 industrial estate, on its eastern boundary (below right).
General Plan – Facebook (Meta) Proposed Development
Within this total land area, Meta intends to develop its data center campus on a 309-acre (125-hectare) plot – which is signified by the dashed black line above. Whereas the land outside the campus plot will have other uses such as green areas, roads, and public facilities.
At full build-out, Meta’s data center campus will comprise multiple facilities with a total building area of 3.2 million sqft (300k sqm).
Elements Along and Within the Facebook (Meta) Site
As shown above, key elements along and within Meta’s site include: (#1) red line represents the site limit, (#2) A-5 highway along the southern site limit, (#3) N-502 highway along the northern site boundary, (#7) yellow line signifies electrical network infrastructure (without voltage), and (#9) blue line shows wastewater network.
Investment
Facebook (Meta) estimate a total project investment of €1.03bn during the period between 2024 and 2030. Notably, over 97% of this investment, equivalent to €1.0bn, will be directed towards construction costs and professional services fees.
For the purchase of land and associated legal administration, Meta has budgeted a total of €18m, representing only 1.8% of its total investment. Previously, the land was co-owned by SEPES, a public business entity, and the City (Ayuntamiento) of Talavera de la Reina.
Meta’s Investment Decomposition – from 2024 through 2030
| Investment | Cost (€m) | % Total |
| Land Purchase, Legal | €18.0m | 1.8% |
| Construction, Professional Services | €1,000m | 97.4% |
| Taxes (ICIO and ITP) | €1.9m | 0.2% |
| Monetization of Transfer | €6.3m | 0.6% |
| Total Investment | €1,026m | 100% |
Overall, Meta anticipates financing the entire project internally, with no public or external financing required. Specifically, Meta’s project entity, Global Villacreces S.L., is owned by two of Facebook’s subsidiaries: i) Facebook International Operations Limited (Ireland) and ii) Runways Information Services Limited (Ireland).
Timeline
Facebook (Meta) intends to commence construction, subject to attaining planning permissions, in late 2023, which will last for a period of 6 years. While professional services spending related to the development project will occur from 2022 through 2030.
Meta’s data center campus will be built in phases, with the first buildings expected to become operational in 2026, two years after the start of construction. Ultimately, construction is expected to end in 2029, with the data center campus reaching its full operational capacity in 2030.
As shown below, Meta’s capital expenditures will grow from 2022 to 2024, reaching peak levels between 2025 and 2027. Subsequently, a reduction in investment will occur from 2028 to 2030.
Meta’s Annual Investments into Castilla-La Mancha – from 2022 through 2030
At peak construction, Meta expects to invest a total of €220m per year in its data center campus development project, of which ~€145m per year will be invested directly into the region of Castilla-La Mancha (above).
Overall, the majority of Meta’s total investment of €1bn for construction is expected to remain in Spain, with the company’s spending set to be €728m in the country. Of this total, €713m will relate to construction activity in Castilla-La Mancha.
Finally, to put Meta’s investment into context, it represents more than three times the gross foreign investment in the entire Castilla-La Mancha region during the first three quarters of 2021, which amounted to €223m.
Power
Facebook (Meta) is considering the construction of a new on-site substation to supply power to its data center campus. As such, this substation would have several high-voltage connections with the region’s power grid. Additionally, it is also possible for a supply substation, either from Red Eléctrica de España and/or Iberdrola, to cover smaller energy needs of the data center campus.
Water
Facebook (Meta) has provided the following estimates regarding its demand for potable (i.e., safe to drink) water and its production of wastewater. Particularly, these estimates pertain to water demand for industrial use, potable use, and wastewater generated by the data center campus.
Water Demand and Wastewater Generation – Data Center Campus
| Metric | Industrial / Potable | Wastewater |
| Liters per Year | 327m | 195m |
| Average Flow (liters/second) | 11 | 7 |
| Peak Demand (liters/second) | 194 | 119 |
Holistically, Facebook (Meta) bases its estimates for the water consumption of its data center campus in Spain on the performance and operation of similar facilities.
Economic Development
During the 6-year development phase of the data center campus, Facebook (Meta) anticipates that an average of 840 construction workers will be on-site. At the peak of construction, in 2027, the company expects to create over 1.1k direct construction jobs.
Meta indicates that the proposed development will directly employ 250 workers when fully built. Additionally, the campus will require €30m of operating expenditure each year. Based on operational metrics from other data centers in Europe, this would equate to compensation of €98.2k per position.
Facebook (Meta Platforms) – Data Centers
Facebook (Meta) designs, builds, owns, and operates its own data centers. Presently, Meta’s data center infrastructure in Europe includes three large-scale campuses, which are built and operational, in the markets of Odense (Syddanmark), Denmark; Clonee (Leinster), Ireland; and Luleå (Norrbotten), Sweden.
With the recent announcement from Facebook (Meta) of a new data center development project in Boise (Kuna), Idaho and this disclosure in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain, the company will increase its presence to 20 data center campuses worldwide. Of this total portfolio, 15 will be located in the United States, 4 in Europe, and 1 in Asia.
