The mega data center of Sines was presented by the government in 2021 as “the largest foreign investment the country has attracted since Autoeuropa”, but two years later the construction of the data center in the industrial and logistics zone of Sines is one of the focuses. the investigation by the Central Investigation and Criminal Action Division (DCIAP) of the Public Prosecution Service (MP), which led to António Costa resigning as Prime Minister.
The investigation has already led to the arrest of seven defendants, three of whom are directly linked to Start Campus, a company owned by North American Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP and British Pioneer Point Partners, which is responsible for the investment in the so-called large-scale data center.
But what is the data center from Sines? It is a project with Project of National Interest (PIN) status, presented in April 2021. To build this data center, Start Campus has committed to invest up to 3,500 million euros in Sines, involving the creation of 1,200 highly qualified direct jobs and 8,000 indirect jobs are provided. jobs by 2025.
The company itself had guaranteed that it would install one of the largest data centers in Europe in Sines, “making a contribution [também] significant for Portugal’s energy transition”. In December 2022, Pedro Nuno Santos, still Minister of Infrastructure, said that Sines had “unique circumstances” to be the “epicenter” of the data economy.
Data center versus Autoeuropa
O date Centre Is it worth more than Autoeuropa? As long as you don’t see it, the Sines data center is still nothing more than a promise: only last October did the first building (of a total of five, adjacent to the old Sines coal-fired power station) begin to be “partially put into use”. Founded in Portugal in the 1990s, Autoeuropa produced 231,000 units and reached a sales volume of 3.674 billion euros in 2022, with 99% of production destined for export. Autoeuropa currently employs approximately 5,000 people and accounts for 1.5% of gross domestic product (GDP).
Together with the Hyperscale Data Center, Sines was chosen as the location for a hydrogen energy production plant. Both form the Sines 4.0 project. “And why can Sines be a champion of green hydrogen production across Europe? For exactly the same reason that, in all possible places to localize this mega production data centerSines was chosen because here it is possible to have a mega data center energetically sustainable, and more, with the cheapest sustainable energy you can find,” said António Costa at the presentation of the project.
The authorities suspect “facts that may amount to crimes, active and passive corruption of political office holders and the peddling of influence.” Yesterday, Público reported that the MP suspects that João Galamba, as State Secretary for Energy or as Minister of Infrastructure, may have taken diplomas paid for by Start Campus to the Council of Ministers. Afonso Salema, CEO of Start Campus, Rui Oliveira Marques, Legal and Sustainability Manager of Start Campus, Diogo Lacerca Machado, best man at Costa’s wedding and advisor for Start Campus, and Nuno Mascarenhas, President of the Municipal Council of Sines (PS), are also present suspect in the context of this MP investigation.
Dinheiro Vivo journalist
Source: DN
