K. Sokolov Archive

Pelagos Data Centre: The Three-Legged Stool

Written by

Editorial Team

in

June 19, 2026

A data centre of the scale proposed by Pelagos needs three things: connectivity, space, and power. A 250MW facility of this size requires access to major international broadband capacity, not just local networks. The renders show a 250MW campus. The numbers show a project that does not add up. Let’s examine each of the three legs.

By Nathan Harig – Picasa, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9340803

Connectivity: The One Thing That Works

Ensuring direct and immediate access to a high-capacity fibre-optic cable is a critical prerequisite for the project’s infrastructure. Less than one kilometre from the proposed Pelagos location, the Europe India Gateway (EIG) submarine cable branches into Gibraltar. This is not a minor regional link. It is a 15,000-kilometre fibre-optic network spanning three continents, with a total capacity of 28 Terabits per second. The cable connects Gibraltar westward to the UK via Portugal, and eastward to France (Marseille), Monaco, and on to India.

The landing station of the Europe India Gateway (EIG) submarine cable at Ocean Village in the Bay of Gibraltar is managed by Gibtelecom, the national provider. Gibtelecom is a founder member of the EIG consortium and the only operator in Gibraltar with direct ownership and access to the system. Consequently, the successful realization of the Pelagos project is entirely dependent on establishing a close and strategic partnership with Gibtelecom.

Space: 250MW on 9,000 Square Metres

In the previous article, “Pelagos Data Centre: Built on Water,” we analysed publicly available renders, maps and site photographs and estimated the usable footprint at approximately 9,000 square metres. How much space does a modern data centre need? Industry benchmarks from real projects show the following density metrics:

ProjectPowerBuilding AreaDensity (kW/sqm)
Start Campus, Portugal (one building)90 MW~45,000 sqm2.0 kW/sqm 
Merlin Properties, Madrid20 MW (phase 1)~43,000 sqm (full campus)up to 2.3 kW/sqm 
CloudHQ Paris160 MW~65,000 sqm2.4 kW/sqm
Ark Alliance, London75 MW~42,000 sqm1.8 kW/sqm

The industry range is between 1.8 and 2.4 kW per square metre. The average is approximately 2.1 kW/sqm. Apply that average to Pelagos.

Applying an average density of approximately 2.1 kW/sqm derived from comparable projects suggests a requirement of roughly 119,000 sqm.

British and European standards (notably BS EN 50600-2-1) define the clear height — the usable space inside the server room.

The total height from floor to floor (slab-to-slab) is built from three layers: a raised floor for air and cables (0.6–1.0 metres), the clear server space (3.0–4.0 metres), and overhead space for pipes and cables (0.9–1.5 metres).

The final requirements are straightforward:

  • Small server rooms: minimum 4.5 metres total.
  • Standard commercial data centres: 5.0–5.5 metres.
  • High-density AI / hyperscale facilities: up to 6.0 metres per floor.

For a project like Pelagos, which claims to compete in the hyperscale market, 5 metres per floor is the baseline industry standard — not an exaggeration. Anything less would force them to abandon standard rack layouts or risk overheating.

Based on a 9,000-square-metre footprint, a building with a standard industrial floor height of 5 metres per level would require 13 storeys. This translates into a 65-metre industrial skyscraper—equivalent to an 18-to-22-storey residential building. Construction of this magnitude and height is unprecedented for the territory of Gibraltar.

 In 2015, when the North Mole gas station was designed, the aviation authority imposed a hard 25-metre limit on the chimney stack. The official document states: “The stacks will be 25 m in height, abiding to height limits imposed for the operation of the Gibraltar International Airport.”

But there are precedents. Waterport Terrace residential complex is 9 storeys — approximately 27–32 metres — and is already built and occupied. In December 2019, the Development & Planning Commission approved a 15–16 storey residential tower (48 metres) on Devil’s Tower Road after an aeronautical study. The vote was 10 in favour, 1 against.

Height restrictions are currently regulated under the Town Planning Act 2018 and the 2009 Development Plan. A new Development Plan was promised for 2025 but has not appeared. When it does, rules may be revised. But in Gibraltar, almost everything is negotiable if you have the right legal team and political support.  

Power: 250MW vs. 15-30MW

Pelagos claims it will be “powered independently from Gibraltar’s grid using a mix of renewable energy and LNG.” The LNG points directly to the North Mole Power Station — the state-owned, state-operated plant that is Gibraltar’s only source of electricity.

Let us do the math properly, including the industry reality of PUE. The project promises a PUE of 1.2. That means for every 1 MW of IT load, the facility requires 1.2 MW of total electrical power. The remaining 0.2 MW goes to cooling, UPS losses, transformers, and lighting.

The full 250 MW IT load requires 300 MW of total power.

Now look at what Gibraltar actually has.

  • North Mole Power Station total capacity: ~86 MW
  • Gibraltar’s peak demand (city + industry): ~36 MW daily peak.
  • Required operating reserve for the city: 20% of peak load = ~7.2 MW.
  • Available power for a new commercial user before its own reserve: 86 – 36 – 7.2 = ~42.8 MW.
  • But the data centre itself also requires reserve. A constant 250 MW load is not flexible. Even for a modest first phase, the operator must maintain 20% reserve. That is ~8.6 MW of the 42.8 MW available.
  • Net available power for IT load: 86 – 36 – 7.2 – 8.6 = ~34.2 MW total power.
  • With a PUE of 1.2, that supports ~28 MW of IT load.

A first-phase IT load of 28 MW would represent the maximum real capacity under current grid constraints, a figure that would effectively exhaust all available power surplus from the North Mole Power Station. In reality, operational deployment could scale anywhere from an initial 1 MW. To put this in perspective, Gibraltar’s existing data centres are internal facilities with modest footprints, each requiring less than 3 MW to operate. For instance, Continent 8 operates at approximately 2–3 MW, while Rockolo runs at around 2.1 MW. We estimate the total combined capacity of all existing data centres in Gibraltar to be roughly 6–8 MW. If the first phase remains small and incremental, it might prove viable within the local grid constraints. But scaling to the full, proposed 250 MW? That is an entirely different story.

The Bottom Line

  • Internet: Available. The EIG cable is less than one kilometre away. Pelagos needs to negotiate with Gibtelecom .
  • Space: Enough for one building, one phase, if the phase is modest. Not enough for 250 MW unless you build a 65-metre skyscraper under the flight path. Height limits are negotiable, but precedent has limits. Building a skyscraper of this scale on reclaimed land (waterfront), within an extremely confined site and adjacent to an active runway, is highly unrealistic from both an engineering and operational standpoint.
  • Power: Less than 34 MW of spare electrical capacity exists. That supports a first phase of just under 28 MW IT load — not 50 MW, and certainly not 250 MW.

In upcoming articles, we will investigate who is pushing the Pelagos project for Konstantin Sokolov — and where the independent 300 MW of electricity required for the data centre is expected to come from. Stay tuned.

Credits:

  • North Mole Power Station / Gibraltar energy supply — reference for Gibraltar’s installed generation capacity and local power context. https://www.gea.gi/gea/who-we-are

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