A data centre is a centralised physical facility where computing and networking equipment are used to collect, process, and store data, as well as to distribute and enable access to resources. For all business and personal interactions and transactions, communication, etc, electronic exchange of data is necessary. Thus, the ever-growing demand for digital information requires a vast amount of computing and networking equipment. These data centres are not new. They have existed since the days of computers, but it has grown due to the demand for information, availability of technology, and lower costs. Earlier data centres typically had one huge supercomputer, but now several servers are placed, connecting various communication network centres to manage huge volumes of data. For example, the desktop computer we use can handle megabytes of data, but now, to handle higher volumes of data like zettabytes, data centres are essential. Tabletop computers have inbuilt fans to cool the processors. But at zettabyte levels, the cooling systems and power source vary enormously. Several data centres placed across the globe (clouds) are inter-connected.
These data centres need an enormous amount of water and electricity. For example, medium-scale data centres need 417 million L/y of water, while large-scale, hyperscale centres need about 6900 million L/y of water for cooling. Thus, water requirement is expected to grow with the expansion of the data centres (Miguel Yañez-Barnuevo, 2025. Data Centres and Water Consumption. Environmental and Energy study Institute, Washington DC). Similarly, data centres need huge power requirements. As of today, greater than 8000 data centres are in operation in the world, the highest being in the USA. Together, the power consumed by the data centres is of the order of 17 GW in 2025 and is projected to increase to 130 GW by 2030 due to an increase in data centres. As of today, fossil fuel-sourced power is being utilised by the data centres, resulting in high emissions. To get an idea, in 2018 there were 1000 data centres in the US utilising 11 GW of fossil fuel-sourced power, resulting in 31.5 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, data centres are energy-intensive enterprises and detrimental to global emissions. Currently, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services are the main drivers of cloud computing and hyperscale data centres.
With exponential growth of data centres worldwide, diverting fossil fuels and the main drinking water source to support data centres is not viable and will be disastrous. This will eat into the water and electricity resources of the population.
It is worth analysing the recent foundation laid for a 15 billion US$ hyperscale data centre project in Andhra Pradesh, India. Adani has plans to invest 100 billion US$ to support the data centre through renewable energy.
There are two options to start this centre: 1) the easy one and 2) the sustainable one.
The easier option is to draw power from the existing grid (fossil fuels) and water from the ground or on the surface and establish the centre, and don’t bother about emissions and the people (farmers and the common man) who depend on the natural resources for their day-to-day life. The govt. is happy, investors are happy, so also “Google”.
Google has a vision back in the US but not in India!! It has used geothermal (EGS) energy to support its data centre in Utah, and this free and clean energy is supplied by Fervo Energy. The plans are to up-scale the facility by utilising 500 MW of geothermal (EGS) supplied by Fervo Energy. This energy can be used for cooling as well as to power the data centres!
India, especially Andhra Pradesh, has enormous EGS sources that are yet to be exploited. We will discuss it later.
What is the sustainable option to develop data centres?
To put it in one sentence, data centres should have independent power and water supply, and to comply with reduction in emissions, the power source should be from renewables. Hyderabad has about 26 data centres, drawing power from the grid and water from sewage treatment plants. To date, data centres draw 200 MWe and 500 million litres of treated water. Any shortfall of water is compensated from regular water pipelines. With growing demand for data centres, the amount of water power needed increases exponentially. With Hyderabad already having issues with Andhra Pradesh in water sharing, future demand has to be planned from sources other than sewage treatment plants and natural ground and surface water sources.
Data centres have to rely on nuclear or geothermal to meet future water and power demand. Dedicated coal power for Hyderabad (Telangana has considerable coal resources from the existing coal mines) is possible; this source will emit enormous CO2 like solar PV and thus is not sustainable. In India, when people think of renewable, only solar PV comes to mind and nothing else. Solar PV, due to the land requirement and emissions, has to be kept away from data centres’ purview.
Godavari discharges 32 billion litres of water into the Bay of Bengal. This water is not used either for agriculture or for any other use. This water can be utilised to cool the data centres. To establish nuclear power, these states have to wait for 5 to six years. Governments are self-centred and cannot wait that long. Modular reactors use high radioactive waste material. An alternate solution is to tap the heat from the high radiogenic granites that are abundant in both states (Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) for Sustainable Development, Elsevier, 2025, 245p).
Google is already using geothermal power drawn from high radiogenic granites (also known as Enhanced Geothermal Systems) in Utah, the USA, for its data centre. Fervo Energy is sourcing EGS power to Google’s data centre.
EGS can be developed within a short period of time, unlike nuclear energy. Governments and India in general can collaborate with Fervo on a commercial basis to develop geothermal energy in the country. Adani ConneX and Airtel Nxtra, who are investing 100 billion US$ to develop renewable energy for data centres, can take the initiative to collaborate with Fervo and jointly establish green energy for all the data centres in the country. The advantage is that geothermal has a minimum land footprint, unlike solar PV and is carbon free and is all-time-weather source runs 24 x 7 with out any additional battery support. This same energy can be used both for power generation as well as desalination to support the water needs of data centres. Now Fervo has floated public shares and is planning to provide Google with 500 MWe power in the near future.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
