Alibaba holds preliminary talks with Solaria for Spanish data center power

Alibaba is in preliminary talks with Spanish renewable energy producer Solaria to supply power for a data center located in Puertollano, south of Madrid. The potential deal involves using renewable energy from Solaria's plants to support the facility.

Following reports of these discussions, Solaria's stock saw significant volatility, at one point rising nearly 7% during a trading session. While the talks are in an early stage and neither company has officially confirmed the operation, the news highlights the growing demand for clean energy to power the expansion of artificial intelligence and data center infrastructure in Europe.

The discussions occur as Spain drafts new regulations regarding data centers. The proposed rules would require facilities exceeding 1MW to source 80% of their electricity from renewables every hour and mandate that operators be established within the EU, with all data and metadata kept within European borders.