Will Heatwaves Derail India’s Data Centre Dream?

India is targeting to be a $1 trillion digital economy with projections forecasting the internet and digital ecosystem will reach milestone between 2028 and 2030. The country’s digital economy is expanding fast but the extreme heat is playing spoilsport, impacting the data centers.

Data centres which form the technological backbone need copious supply of water to cool down the systems but the sizzling temperatures, likely to touch 50 degree Centigrade in the near future, could choke them as water resources dry up at such extreme heat.

Data centres would require uninterrupted supply of water and power to keep them operating efficiently. As the servers generate enormous heat even under normal conditions, they require constant cooling.

A large portion of electricity is needed for computing but in reality, much of it would be consumed by cooling systems, backup infrastructure and power management. The increasing requirement of water could also lead to scarcity too.

The heatwaves are becoming more severe with each passing year, staying for a longer period and striking hard every time. This would mean higher electricity consumption, rising water demand and increasing operational costs.

If temperatures keep increasing with every year, the demand for electricity would also rise as power consumption would go up. At the same time, the extreme heat would also dry up the rivers, reducing the generation of power.

The Press Information Bureau release in March states India’s data centre capacity has already expanded more than 1,500 MW by 2025 and is likely to reach 6.5 GW by 2030.

Environmentalists say more than half of India’s existing data centres already experience temperatures above 35 degree Centigrade for over 90 days a year. According to projections, 90% of data centres could face such conditions by 2040. With many data centres concentrated in urban areas, which are reeling under water and power scarcity, due to dense population, the electricity grids and water resources could be further strained.

India’s push for AI is expected to increase computing workloads in the coming years. The hyperscale facilities and GPU-intensive AI training infrastructure generate more heat than the normal cloud storage operations, requiring more intense cooling systems.

AI data centres cooling systems depend heavily on fresh water, which is already scarce. India has 18% of world’s population but possesses only around 4% of global freshwater resources. The expansion of AI-driven infrastructure could increase the demand for freshwater.

With the challenge clearly visible, the government should be able to identify suitable locations for establishing data centres and also search for alternatives to avoid infrastructure scarcity in the future.