Broken promises, confiscated land: the hyperscale AI datacentre being built in a tiny Indian village

In a remote Indian village, Google has embarked on a $15 billion project to construct what is being described as the world's largest "hyperscale" AI datacentre. The village of Tarluvada, situated in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, has been at the center of this ambitious endeavor, which is set to bring numerous jobs and economic opportunities to the region. However, locals have expressed deep concerns over the project, fearing that it could lead to significant environmental and economic costs.

The government, which is allied with the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s party, has been criticized for failing to provide a comprehensive response to the villagers' questions. They have also been accused of concealing the true scale of the project and rushing through environmental scrutiny to expedite the construction. Google has partnered with the Adani Group, a powerful conglomerate with a history of rapidly securing approvals, to build the datacentre.

While Google claims the project will be comparable to other AI datacentres, state environmental clearances reveal that permission has been granted for it to be significantly larger – over double the size initially announced. This 2.51GW project, the power output of two large nuclear reactors, could consume up to 30% of Andhra Pradesh's current energy consumption, a state home to over 55 million people.

Environmental activists fear that meeting the datacentre's energy demands will result in severe consequences for the region's environment, potentially increasing fossil fuel emissions.

Google has pledged to generate "clean energy" to power its AI hub, yet 75% of India's electricity grid is currently reliant on coal. The state government argues that AI datacentres are crucial for India's growth and digital competitiveness, as India currently generates nearly 20% of the world's data but hosts only about 3% of global datacentres.

However, locals and activists argue that building such a large datacentre in an already struggling region, facing issues with extreme heat, water shortages, land and forest degradation, power and environmental regulation, comes at a heavy cost.

The project encompasses three separate datacentres around Vizakhapatnam, the state capital, with one site in close proximity to a reserve forest, a drinking water reservoir, and a wildlife sanctuary. Despite the expansive footprint of Google's project, the state government issued environmental clearances within just nine days, without conducting any public consultation.

Three petitions challenging the rapid approval of the project have been filed to India's National Green Tribunal, alleging that the government's assessment of environmental risks and water supplies was "grossly inadequate, scientifically unrealistic, and misleading."

Activist VS Krishna, representing Human Rights Forum, emphasized that their campaign against the datacentre has faced a deliberate attempt to silence them, with their videos and social media pages being removed. The government did not respond to this allegation. Krishna argued that the project is unprecedented in scale and lacks substantial evaluation of the ecological damage or economic cost for local communities.

Concerns have been raised about the datacentre's heat output exacerbating the already scorching temperatures in Tarluvada, as well as the potential strain on water supplies in this water-stressed region.