Will Google’s Uruguay datacenter finally get off the ground?

Google is apparently going ahead with its longstanding Uruguayan datacenter project, an initiative that dates back to 2020, when the first reports about the site came out.

After much back-and-forth and rumors of Google almost giving up on its plans, a few days ago the company finally filed the environmental impact study and the project document, according to the Uruguayan government.

Both are previous and necessary steps to obtain the preliminary environmental authorization (AAP).

The submission of this request rubberstamps the investment commitment and, more specifically, the continuation of the project. During the three years since Google bought land in Canelones, practically nothing has advanced with regard to the datacenter.

At the beginning of this year, Google was still having problems with licensing the site, especially regarding water use at a time when Uruguay was experiencing a severe drought, leading to a disagreement with the government on using the resource, particularly for cooling the building.

At the time, Google had only applied to obtain its environmental location permit (VAL) and was yet to go through the prior environmental authorization (AAP) and environmental operation authorization (AAO) stages.

"These instances involve a deep analysis of the characteristics of the datacenter that must be submitted to authorities for approval and be subject to a public consultation phase," the company said at the time.

In comparison, Google's Firmina cable, which will also land in Uruguay and fits into the broader Canelones data ecosystem project, was announced after the datacenter, but received the essential approvals first.

ALSO READ: Google awarded environmental permit for Brazil cable landing station

Now, the company is "redefining" the size of the datacenter and making a technological change that involves a new "air cooling system," the government reported. 

This was certainly included in the APP request. 

The presentation of the permit with these modifications is what likely led the government to publicly “reconfirm” the project this week, as did Google.

“For Uruguay, it's an excellent sign, in the sense of the advance of innovation, technology and the digital economy,” said the secretary of the presidency, Álvaro Delgado.

The announcement was made alongside representatives of Google and industry, energy and mining minister Omar Paganini and environment minister Robert Bouvier.

There is no schedule yet defined for the works, and certainly not for the inauguration of the site, but the government announced that the plan is to lay the foundation stone in March.