Delivering Europe’s largest and most sustainable data center

As industries rapidly pivot to digitalization and virtualization, data centers are becoming increasingly central to how we work and live. Traditionally, these mission-critical facilities have relied on a power-heavy designs to maximize processing capacity and minimize downtime. However, achieving sustainability and carbon neutral goals requires a fundamental shift in how data centers are designed and delivered. 

Leveraging the brainpower of more than 60 designers, engineers, power and energy specialists and environmental teams across the U.S., Ireland, India, Italy, Poland, Singapore and the U.K. — alongside local partners in Portugal, AFA Consult Architectural, Hidromod, Prospectiva and Conduril —  we are drawing on our globally integrated delivery approach and our subject matter experts’ deep expertise to craft the SINES DC campus. This globally integrated approach, with carbon neutrality at its core, sets a new benchmark for sustainable data center design. This includes repurposing the existing ocean water intake and outtake infrastructure from a former coal-fired power plant to create a state-of-the-art ocean-water cooling solution and sourcing 100% renewable power from Portugal’s robust renewable energy portfolio. 

The campus uses dual-loop cooling architecture, with a closed freshwater circuit managing process cooling within the data halls, supporting high-density computing environments and technologies such as direct-to-chip liquid cooling. This loop is thermally coupled through high-efficiency, corrosion-resistant heat exchangers to an open-loop seawater system. In this configuration, seawater never enters the data center environment. Instead, heat is transferred through the heat exchangers before the same volume of seawater is returned to the ocean under controlled conditions. The system incorporates marine-sensitive intake design, controlled discharge parameters and continuous monitoring to help protect coastal ecosystems while eliminating the need for potable or freshwater for cooling.

The first building of SINES DC, SIN01, was officially inaugurated in 2025 and is now fully operational, delivering 33 MW of IT capacity as the first phase of the 1.2 GW campus.The facility serves as a proof of concept for prospective clients transitioning to larger spaces in the campus’s subsequent data center buildings, which range from 180 to 240 MW each.

Beyond its technological achievements, the SINES DC campus will serve as a socio-economic pillar for the region, supporting an estimated c. 16,000 direct and indirect jobs on average through the end of the decade, and revitalizing a former industrial area. By 2030, the campus is projected to contribute approximately 1% of Portugal’s GDP with a total capacity of 1.2 GW across six buildings.