Cleaning Up: Leadership in an Age of Climate Change Inside Europe’s Largest AI Data Centre: A Green Giant Rises | Ep235: Robert Dunn
Nov 26, 2025
Robert Dunn, CEO of Start Campus, is pioneering Europe's largest sustainable data centre in Sines, Portugal, transforming a former coal plant site. He shares insights on the engineering innovations like seawater cooling and earthquake-resilient structures. The conversation dives into balancing speed, cost, and sustainability for mega-projects, exploring how to future-proof facilities against rapid tech changes. Dunn also discusses the impact on local communities and the competitive advantage of using renewable resources.
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The True Scale Of Investment
- Building 1.2 GW of data-center physical infrastructure costs about €10 billion, with customers adding ~€40 billion of IT kit.
- Robert Dunn highlights the scale: operators invest in infrastructure while customers supply the costly GPUs and servers.
Plan Years Before Breaking Ground
- Plan two to three years of design and permitting before breaking ground to enable rapid construction.
- Robert Dunn advises lining up structure, electrical and civils so contractors can execute at speed.
Seawater Cuts Cooling Costs Big
- Seawater cooling yields a PUE around 1.1 versus ~1.3 for traditional chillers, cutting power for cooling by ~20–30%.
- Robert Dunn positions seawater heat rejection as the campus' primary, lower-cost cooling strategy.