SANTIAGO, Chile — Google on Sept. 17 announced it would halt plans to develop a major $200 million data center in Chile to address environmental concerns, a decision reflecting growing worries about the impact of the power-thirsty projects around the world.
The U.S. technology giant, which is investing in two new server farms in the South Carolina Lowcountry, first obtained permits in 2020 to construct the vast project in the capital of Santiago, as demand skyrocketed for the web-traffic infrastructure across the globe, fueled by a surge in cloud-based technologies and a craze for generative AI.
But months after a Chilean court partially reversed the data center’s authorization over water usage concerns, Google announced Sept. 17 that it would revise the project to comply with more stringent environmental requirements and change its water-intensive cooling system.
“A new process will start from scratch,” Google said in its statement Tuesday. “Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do, and the way we design and manage our data centers is no exception.”
Community complaints in the drought-stricken South American nation over the air-conditioned computer hub’s energy and water usage sharpened government scrutiny and prompted a local court to temporarily revoke the project’s authorization in February.
The Santiago environmental court asked Google, which is part of Mountain View, Calif.-based Alphabet Inc., to respond to concerns that the data center could affect Santiago’s main aquifer.
Google’s existing data center in Berkeley County (above) is off Highway 52 near Moncks Corner.
File/Staff
The court said it was highly possible that cooling the heavy equipment — which creates the online storage for the data of millions — could pull from the nation’s water resources. The country is experiencing a severe drought supercharged by climate change, a source of outrage among locals and Indigenous groups.
Google didn’t provide an updated timeline for the revised project and said that it would keep the location the same. It said developers had already notified Chile’s environmental regulator of its decision to pause its permit application process and rethink its strategy.
Environmental concerns have also been raised over Google’s plans to develop a pair of data centers at separate locations in Dorchester County.
The company won’t release projected water or electricity usage at the site, one near rural St. George and the other in Pine Hill Business Campus west of Summerville.
A Charleston County resident sued Dorchester County after it redacted the projected usages in public documents. A judge is scheduled to review the case on Sept. 27.
Dominion Energy is giving Google a discounted rate for electricity at the Pine Hill data center but will not disclose how much power the internet giant plans to use.
An existing Google data center in Berkeley County used an average of more than 2 million gallons of water daily last year to cool the servers. That’s the same average water usage for about five 18-hole golf courses — according to the company’s annual environmental report.
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Publish date : 2024-09-17 09:38:00
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