CloudHQ breaks ground on power infra for Mexican datacenter campus

US-based datacenter group CloudHQ has commenced construction of a substation and transmission lines to power its 288MW campus in Querétaro, Mexico.

Photos shared on social media show the initial construction activities at the off-site substation and power lines that will supply energy to the complex.

“These will deliver 190MW of total power to the first phase of our QRO Campus, accelerating power delivery in the Querétaro area,” wrote Gabriel Navarro Alday, CloudHQ’s business development and leasing manager.

The power infrastructure will connect to the national grid at 400kV level via a private, double-circuit transmission line. This setup is designed to ensure redundancy and improve operational reliability, according to Alday.

First announced in 2022, CloudHQ’s project has seen limited progress until now. The campus site is located on route 100, near Querétaro airport.

The full campus will include six buildings, each with 48MW of IT capacity, for a total IT load of 288MW. This would position it as one of the largest datacenter projects in Mexico. The estimated investment for the project is 70bn pesos (US$3.4bn), with a ready-for-service date now set for 2026.

Expansion in Brazil

CloudHQ is also advancing two major campuses in Brazil, including one with the same design and projected capacity as the Querétaro campus.

In March 2023, the company broke ground on the GRU Technology Campus in Paulínia, located in the Campinas region of São Paulo state. The project represents a US$3bn investment for a 288MW datacenter complex comprising six buildings.

The first phase includes three buildings, each with 48MW of capacity, while a second phase will add three more buildings with the same capacity.

As previously reported by BNamericas, Brazilian engineering firm LZA Engenharia delivered a 250MW high-voltage substation to power the Paulínia project. The substation equipment was manufactured by local company Weg.

“With 95% of the on-site substation completed and the first 75MVA transformer already installed, the GRU Campus will be energized in February 2025,” Alday previously said.

CloudHQ is also developing a smaller project in Rio de Janeiro’s São João do Meriti municipality. The GIG campus, located on a 4.5ha site, will have a total capacity of 36MW and represents an investment of 1.7bn reais.