Data centers in Uruguay: 1 project mapped

Uruguay's largest data center is being built by Google in the Parque de las Ciencias free trade zone at Colonia Nicolich, Canelones, next to homes, schools and sports clubs. Construction began in August 2024 on a US$850 million plan of four stages over 26 months, which would put completion around October 2026. Google has said it will use at most 560 gigawatt-hours of electricity a year, about 5% of national demand, and has a contract with the state utility UTE for 430.

Water forced a redesign. During the severe drought of 2023, the original plan to use up to 7.6 million liters of drinking water a day for cooling became contested; Google shrank the project and switched to air cooling, and the Environment Ministry approved the revised plan. An investigation by Amenaza Roboto, published by the Pulitzer Center, found that if all 27 diesel backup generators ran at once, nitrogen dioxide could reach about 17 times the legal limit, and that the most exposed neighbor, 280 meters away, could face 72 decibels at night during an outage.

The ministry required noise monitoring, a detailed emergency plan and final generator specifications to be settled during construction and operation. Building employs 300 to 400 people, with a peak of about 800, and about 50 will work there once it opens.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.