Alibaba Group Holding is exploring a potential solar-power arrangement for a data center in Spain, opening another front in the Chinese technology giant’s expanding European infrastructure strategy. The company has held preliminary discussions with Spanish clean-energy producer Solaria Energía y Medio Ambiente over a possible power-supply agreement, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg. The discussions concern a Solaria installation near Puertollano, about 240 kilometers from Madrid. The talks remain at an early stage, and Alibaba has also contacted other energy providers as it evaluates options for the project.

Neither Alibaba nor Solaria commented on the discussions. The limited progress contrasts with Alibaba’s more clearly defined European data center commitments, underscoring how power procurement is becoming a central consideration as the company expands its cloud and artificial intelligence footprint. A solar arrangement could give Alibaba a direct route toward meeting renewable-energy requirements while securing electricity for a power-intensive facility. For Spain, the potential project also fits a broader policy push to link new data center demand with additional clean generation.

Alibaba’s interest in Spain comes as the company accelerates its European cloud infrastructure build-out. Last week, Alibaba announced plans to establish its first cloud regions in Finland and the Netherlands within 12 months, while continuing to expand its data center presence in Germany and France. The strategy places Alibaba more directly against Amazon and Microsoft across a European cloud market where access to power, land and grid capacity increasingly shapes infrastructure decisions. Spain could become an important part of that expansion if Alibaba moves beyond preliminary discussions.

Spain Links Data Centers to New Renewable Power

The potential Spanish project is emerging as Madrid prepares tighter rules for data center development. Bloomberg reported that the proposed regulatory framework would restrict data center operations to European Union-headquartered companies and require incremental electricity consumption from such facilities to correspond with an equivalent addition of new renewable generation. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez aims to introduce the rules by the end of the year.

For Alibaba, those requirements could make the structure of any Spanish power agreement particularly important. Securing renewable generation alongside additional data center demand could help address regulatory constraints while improving the economics of long-term electricity procurement. The approach also reflects a broader European shift toward treating data center expansion as part of national energy planning. As a result, renewable supply, grid availability and regulatory eligibility are increasingly becoming intertwined in infrastructure investment decisions.

Chinese Capital Deepens Spain Connection

The discussions also arrive against a wider increase in Chinese investment across Spain. Chinese capital has moved into sectors including electric vehicles, battery manufacturing, clean energy and freight, giving the country a deeper commercial relationship with Chinese industrial groups. Sánchez traveled to Beijing earlier this year and concluded several agreements designed to attract additional Chinese investment. His comparatively warmer approach toward China has distinguished him from European leaders advocating stronger trade barriers.

Alibaba’s potential Spanish data center project therefore sits at the intersection of several strategic shifts: European cloud expansion, accelerating AI infrastructure spending, Spain’s renewable-energy ambitions and Madrid’s evolving stance toward Chinese capital. The solar talks remain preliminary, and there is no assurance that Alibaba will reach an agreement with Solaria or proceed with the project. Even so, the discussions highlight a growing reality for hyperscale infrastructure: securing compute capacity increasingly begins with securing the electricity needed to run it.