Programme of General Interest
A Spanish planning mechanism that designates large infrastructure projects as of national interest, streamlining approvals; used to authorise Amazon's Aragón data centre expansion.
Last refreshed: 26 April 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Is using a national interest planning instrument to fast-track a private data centre campus legally defensible?
Timeline for Programme of General Interest
Authorised Amazon's Aragón build under a 2026-2036 programme timeline
Data Centres: Boom and Backlash: Spain's first DC lawsuit lands at TSJ Aragón- What is Spain's Programme of General Interest for data centres?
- The Programme of General Interest (Proyecto de Interés General) is a Spanish planning instrument that can fast-track approval for large infrastructure projects. It was applied to Amazon's 30-building Aragón data centre campus, accelerating planning. Ecologistas en Acción challenged this use in court in April 2026.Source: Lowdown data-centres briefing
Background
The Programme of General Interest (Proyecto de Interés General) is a Spanish planning mechanism that allows regional governments to designate large infrastructure projects as being of general public interest, which can accelerate the planning and environmental review process. The instrument is designed for national-scale infrastructure — historically applied to motorways, energy networks, and large industrial sites — but has been applied to Amazon Web Services' 30-building data centre campus in the Aragón region.
Ecologistas en Acción's April 2026 lawsuit at TSJ Aragón specifically challenges the use of the Programme of General Interest for the Amazon campus, arguing it bypassed the standard environmental impact assessment that would normally apply to a project of this scale. The legal challenge targets both the water consumption and electricity demand implications of the campus, as well as the procedural propriety of the planning instrument used.
The Aragón regional government and AWS applied the instrument with the argument that the campus represents a major economic investment in the region. Opponents argue the public-interest designation for a private commercial installation stretches the legal intent of the instrument.