- April 16, 2025
- Shatabdi Mazumdar
- Carbon-free, data center energy demands, renewable energy, Solar Energy, sustainable digital infrastructure, wind energy
nLighten has entered into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and supply deal with Shell Spain, which began on April 1, 2025. This partnership is a significant step for nLighten to redefine the energy model for European data centers.
The collaboration will allow nLighten’s edge data center in Madrid, to be powered by Shell’s solar and wind portfolio in Spain, prioritising solar generation. The agreement goes beyond traditional renewable energy contracts by providing nLighten with transparency into the actual renewable energy supply received, rather than relying solely on financial credits such as Guarantees of Origin (GoOs).
Through this agreement, Shell will supply renewable capacity to nLighten, supporting the data center’s efforts to optimise its Carbon-Free Energy (CFE) score, while maintaining the flexibility to scale based on real-time supply and demand. During periods of lower renewable generation, Shell will manage the remaining energy supply to ensure uninterrupted operations. This approach guarantees energy reliability, while reinforcing nLighten’s commitment to a more sustainable digital infrastructure.
“This agreement is a game-changer for how data centers in Spain – and beyond – can be powered by renewables,” said Chad McCarthy, Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of nLighten. “By securing direct access to solar and wind energy, we’re not just reducing our carbon footprint but proving that sustainability and business performance go hand in hand. This supply agreement with Shell is important in building a resilient and future-proof energy model for digital infrastructure.”
In addition to environmental benefits, this agreement highlights the economic advantages of renewable energy integration. As energy markets continue to evolve, the ability to integrate renewables into data center operations positions nLighten at the forefront of both sustainability and cost-efficiency efforts.
“We are excited to partner with nLighten to advance the integration of renewable energy in data centers,” says Óscar Fernández, Shell Spain Country Chair. “By integrating lower-carbon sources into the grid, providing flexibility options and offering tailored energy solutions, we can support the growing demands of data centers. Strategic collaborations between digital infrastructure companies and energy suppliers allows to leverage each other’s strengths, helping scale solutions quickly and effectively to ensure a sustainable energy supply.”
Partner Resources
Popular Right Now
Sign Up Now...Receive Regular Updates
Others have also read ...
Breaking AI/ML’s connectivity bottleneck with Broadcom’s ‘Sian3 and Sian2M’
Growing AI workloads is driving demand for increased bandwidth and interconnect density in AI clusters. Optical interconnect power is a major factor limiting cluster scalability. Broadcom‘s new Sian3 and Sian2M DSPs, along with its comprehensive portfolio of 200G/lane lasers, provide
Click to View
Shatabdi MazumdarMarch 28, 2025
AI data centers are vital, just not ‘in my backyard’: 93% of Americans
Artificial intelligence is at the heart of global competition, with high stakes for productivity, wealth, and military success. Historically, nations with the best technology have gained the upper hand. Despite cultural and political divides, 93% of Americans agree on one
Click to View
Shatabdi MazumdarApril 4, 2025
CtrlS Datacenters unveils captive solar farm, GreenVolt1
(pic credits: CtrlS GreenVolt 1) CtrlS Datacenters Ltd, Asia’s largest Rated-4 datacenter operator, unveiled its captive solar farm christened ‘GreenVolt 1’ in Nagpur, Maharashtra. Phase I of the solar farm with a capacity of 62.5 MWp already went live in
Click to View
Shatabdi MazumdarFebruary 6, 2025
Digital Realty and Schneider Electric establish new digital gateway for Southern Europe
Schneider Electric has partnered with Digital Realty, the largest global provider of cloud and carrier-neutral data center, colocation and interconnection solutions, to deliver its new HER1 Data Center in Heraklion, Crete. Launched earlier this week as the first carrier-neutral facility
Click to View
Shatabdi MazumdarApril 9, 2025
New APR Energy deploys 100MW+ of mobile gas turbines for U.S. based AI hyperscaler
(picture- GlobeNewswire) New APR Energy, a global leader in fast-track energy solutions, is deploying four mobile gas turbines providing 100MW+ of dedicated behind-the-meter power to a major U.S.-based AI hyperscaler. New APR Energy is expected to complete the installation in
Click to View
Shatabdi MazumdarFebruary 26, 2025
Vertiv
Vertiv (NYSE: VRT) brings together hardware, software, analytics and ongoing services to enable its customers’ vital applications to run continuously, perform optimally and grow with their business needs. Vertiv solves the most important challenges facing today’s data centers, communication networks and commercial and industrial facilities with a portfolio of power, cooling and IT infrastructure solutions and services that extends from the cloud to the edge of the network. Headquartered in Westerville, Ohio, USA, Vertiv does business in more than 130 countries. For more information, and for the latest news and content from Vertiv, visit Vertiv.com.
Stelia
We are the first next generation Internet carrier. Stelia is redefining the digital landscape with a native elastic connectivity platform that supports the burgeoning ecosystem of emerging Internet workloads. However, the pinch-point, the central nervous system, the connective tissue has been overlooked. High-capacity Wide Area Networking is more than a crucial piece of the puzzle – up until now it’s been the weakest link. Stelia enables the transition to a new distributed data architecture, crucial for the real-time, data-intensive demands of the new breed of many-to-many workloads. Whilst building Internet 3.0 by expanding into 600 sites across 30 countries in 3-5 years, we’re creating more than a new backbone – we’re building a community on top of a software-defined network asset. The telecom sector is at a turning point, and we’re at the forefront of this change. This is your invite to join us in this transformative journey, to be a part of reshaping connectivity and leading the digital future. Let’s make this happen together!
Virtus Data Center
VIRTUS Data Centres (VIRTUS) is a trusted global leader in the data centre industry and the UK’s leading data centre company, committed to delivering reliable, resilient and responsible digital infrastructure for our customers. As part of ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC), VIRTUS Europe is the home of the cloud in London, and at the heart of Europe. Collectively, the STT GDC Group operates across Singapore, the UK, India, Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines, providing businesses an exceptional foundation that is built for their growth anywhere. In December 2022, Macquarie Asset Management acquired a significant minority stake in VIRTUS via Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 7. Macquarie Asset Management is a global asset manager, providing access to specialist investment expertise across a range of capabilities including infrastructure, green investments, real estate, and other sectors. VIRTUS has a proven track record of over a decade designing and operating the UK’s most efficient facilities. Committed to the highest standards of Operational Excellence – safety, security and availability – VIRTUS hires the best people to work in an industry which is increasingly essential to everyone and everything. We are laser focused on responsibly delivering solutions for the benefit of our customers, colleagues, suppliers, the environment and the world, every minute of every day.
