European utilities face a high-stakes balancing act this week, caught between regulatory headwinds threatening billions in digital infrastructure, shifting geopolitical energy lines, and high-stakes corporate consolidation, RBC Capital Markets strategists said in a note on Tuesday.
Spain's data-center industry is warning that proposed renewable-energy requirements could put 80% to 90% of potential investments worth about 67 billion euros ($77.6 billion) at risk.
Under the proposed rules, data centers would need to source 80% of their electricity from renewable energy. The framework would require new renewable capacity equivalent to the data center's consumption to be installed within 18 months before operations begin, while 80% of power used in each hour would have to come from renewable generation operating at that time.
RBC said that violations could trigger grid-access surcharges of up to 500% for failing the additionality requirement and 50% for breaches of the hourly-correlation rule, with operators potentially losing network access.
The consultancy said the rules could benefit renewable projects that have already secured grid connections, including capacity held by Solaria, while the industry is pushing for the additionality requirement to be relaxed.
Meanwhile, E.ON's UK Chief Executive Officer has declined to rule out job cuts as the company moves to combine its business with Ovo, citing potential economies of scale from technology savings and the elimination of duplicate roles.
RBC said that E.ON employs about 8,000 people in Britain, while Ovo has almost 4,000. The enlarged company would serve about 9.6 million customers, making it the UK's largest energy supplier.
The transaction, which is subject to Competition and Markets Authority review, would reduce the number of major UK energy suppliers from six to five.
RBC expects the deal to provide scale and eventual synergies, although structurally constrained retail margins and restructuring costs are likely to delay the benefits.
Portugal, on the other hand, is targeting 6.9 gigawatts of installed energy storage capacity by 2030, almost doubling its current capacity, under a proposed national strategy now open for public consultation.
The target rises to 9.76 GW by 2040 and includes both batteries and pumped-hydro storage. The government plan focuses on increasing the economic value of storage, allowing participation in system services, simplifying grid connections and encouraging technological innovation.
Portugal had about 3.7 GW of storage capacity as of July, according to RBC, with pumped hydro accounting for roughly 3.6 GW and batteries only 65 MW.
Elsewhere, Spain has increased purchases of Russian gas as the Middle East conflict and disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz squeeze supplies from Qatar and other producers.
Russian gas imports rose 42% in H1 2026, with Russia accounting for over 20% of Spanish gas imports in June and becoming the country's second-largest supplier.
RBC said that the surge was driven in part by record purchases in March as Spanish buyers moved to secure supply ahead of tighter European sanctions on Russian gas.
Spain remains heavily dependent on imports from Algeria and the US, which account for about 35% and 27% of supply respectively. Its extensive LNG infrastructure, including Europe's largest regasification capacity, gives it the ability to replace Russian volumes with cargoes from the US, Nigeria and Norway.