Start Campus sees risk to Sines data center from EDP dispute

Start Campus has acknowledged that its Sines Data Center Campus could face negative effects from a legal dispute between EDP and the Portuguese state over ownership of the seawater circulation system used to cool the site, a key issue for one of Portugal’s largest digital infrastructure projects.

Speaking to ECO/Local Online, Start Campus director Luís Rodrigues said the company is following the new legal framework and the dispute involving EDP, while expecting the relevant authorities to avoid any damage to the project. The data center under construction in Sines is designed to draw in seawater near São Torpes beach through the former Sines coal plant channels, use it to cool servers and return it to the sea at a temperature up to three degrees higher.

The dispute was taken to court by EDP, according to Observador. At issue is a government decree that transferred ownership of the seawater circulation system from EDP to Águas de Santo André, a company within the Águas de Portugal group. Start Campus had agreed use of the system with EDP, but Decree-Law 52/2026 removed the utility’s ownership of the assets.

Rodrigues had told ECO/Local Online at the end of May that the only missing element for the project was access rights for seawater use. At this stage, with one building already operating and a second under construction, the company is already using seawater and not relying on other water resources, apart from some industrial water for dry coolers, he said.

Start Campus says its goal is to use seawater cooling across the whole infrastructure for efficiency and sustainability. Rodrigues now accepts that the dispute could affect delivery of the wider project, which in total could reach €10 billion.

Originally published at Eco.pt