Build closed-loop cooling with no evaporative make-up, and publish the energy penalty it costs

Location

Canelones, Uruguay-34.6222, -55.9904

Description

Google's original Canelones facility design required approximately 7.6 million litres of potable water per day for evaporative cooling. During Uruguay's 2023 drought, Montevideo's utility blended brackish estuary water into the drinking supply due to reservoir depletion, triggering national controversy over the approved project. Google reformulated the design to air cooling; Uruguay's Ministry of Environment approved the revised project on 28 July 2024. A parallel case in Chile saw an environmental court partially revoke Google's permit for a Santiago project in February 2024 on aquifer grounds, after which Google paused the ~$200 million project in September 2024 and signalled a shift to air cooling. Both design changes were achieved at the permit stage through legal or public challenge, not through any standing regulatory requirement. The energy penalty of the air-cooled design has not been disclosed by Google in either case.

Metrics

3

Potable water draw in original design7600000litres per day

Potable water draw in approved air-cooled design76000000litres per day

Time from controversy to approved reformulation18months

Lessons learned

The cooling design is negotiable before construction and effectively fixed afterwards. Both South American cases were won at the permit stage, which is the only stage where this leverage exists.
A drought supplied the political pressure that no standing rule provided. Communities without an acute crisis have to create the equivalent through permit conditions, since the default design will otherwise proceed.
Air cooling was adopted without any published energy penalty. The water reduction is verifiable; whether it was a net environmental improvement is not, because the operator did not disclose the electricity trade-off.
Legal standing was decisive in Chile, where an environmental court could partially revoke a permit on aquifer grounds. Jurisdictions without that route have materially less leverage regardless of public sentiment.

Sources

2

Documented Jul 28, 2026

Gerard Antoun