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Google’s data center project in Uruguay finally gets approval: What we know so far
The IT giant announced their plans in 2020 and in May 2021, they first purchased 30 hectares in the Parque de las Ciencias free trade zone.
The Environment Ministry of Uruguay has approved Google’s application for a data centre project in Teros, BN Americas has reported. The IT giant announced their plans in 2020 and in May 2021, they first purchased 30 hectares in the Parque de las Ciencias free trade zone.
Amended Development Plans
Google declared in November 2023 that the updated plans for the data centre will go forward. Particularly after severe droughts struck Uruguay in July 2023, the original designs caused worries around water usage. Up to 7.6 million litres of drinkable water a day were predicted to be used by the project at first. Google changed the project’s scope and adopted an air conditioning system in order to allay these worries.
Project Phases and Energy Consumption
There will be four phases to the data center’s construction. The report states that the data centre will have an annual maximum energy consumption of less than 560 GWh. An agreement for 430 GWh of electricity per year has already been signed by Google and UTE.
Subsea Cable Projects
Another project that Google is working on is the Firmina undersea cable, which will link Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to Las Toninas, Argentina; Praia Grande, Brazil; and Punta del Este, Uruguay. These same sites are also connected via the Tannat cable, which Google manages in collaboration with Antel Uruguay, the Monet cable that connects the United States to Brazil, and the Curie cable that links Chile and California. The Junior system that links Rio de Janeiro and Santos is run by Google in Brazil.
Cloud Regions in South America
Google presently runs Cloud Regions in São Paulo, Brazil, and Santiago, Chile, in South America. Google’s infrastructure in Uruguay will be strengthened even more by the opening of a new data centre.
