The company, Start Campus, revealed that the NEST - New & Emerging Sustainable Technologies building, which corresponds to the first phase of the project, will have “a capacity of 15 MW [megawatts]” and “represents an investment of €130 million”.

The NEST building is the first infrastructure of SINES 4.0, located in the Industrial and Logistics Zone of Sines (ZILS) and which “will be one of the largest campuses in Europe”.

The SINES 4.0 project “will be 100% green and when it is completed, in 2027, it will have 495 MW of total capacity, comprising nine buildings,” they added in the statement.

In addition to the NEST building, with 15MW, to be completed by the first quarter of 2023, the construction of “eight more buildings with 60 MW of capacity each” is also planned.

In the first phase, according to the company, between 70 and 100 new direct jobs will be created in Sines, with “a strong component of highly qualified functions, such as telecommunications, mechanical and electrical engineers”, as well as 400 indirect jobs.

“Since last year, 20 million euros have already been invested in the project”, an amount that represents “the first instalment” of the global investment estimated at 3.5 billion euros “until 2027”, they added.

Positive impact

For the executive director of Start Campus, Afonso Salema, “SINES 4.0 is now starting to be implemented on the ground and this is an important milestone” for the project, whose investment “responds to two trends” confirmed “in recent years: digital transformation and sustainability".

“We want to make a difference with what we are creating, generating qualified jobs and attracting more investment with a positive impact for the community in Sines”, he stressed.

According to Afonso Salema, “there is a huge demand, internationally, for data centres” for “'hyperscalers'”.

“The international market is in rapid development and the moment of the pandemic has accelerated and even confirmed trends such as teleworking, consumption of streaming services, 'cloud computing', social media, among others”, he advanced.

SINES 4.0 “responds to the growing demand of large international technology companies for space for data processing and storage, due to the explosion of digital demand and 100% green solutions at competitive prices”, the company stressed.

According to the company, the project “leverages the strategic geographic position of Sines and Portugal on the periphery of Europe with the help of new submarine cables: EllaLink (connecting Portugal to Madeira and South America), Equiano and 2Africa (connecting the entire African continent to the Europe through Portugal) and Medusa (connecting the Mediterranean)”, said the promoters.