HYDERABAD: A group of retired scientists has raised serious concerns over the environmental clearances granted to hyperscale data centre projects in the state, alleging major scientific omissions and procedural lapses in the appraisal process.
In a representation submitted to the chairperson of the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), “Scientists for People”, led by former Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) scientist Dr K Babu Rao, claimed that several proposed data centre projects — including those of Amazon Data Services at Raviryal, Chandanvelly, Meerkhanpet and Peddavedu, as well as the CtrlS project at Manchanpally — were incorrectly classified as “Building and Construction” projects instead of industrial-scale infrastructure facilities.
The group argued that hyperscale data centres are energy-intensive industrial facilities with environmental impacts that go far beyond those of conventional commercial buildings.
The scientists pointed to what they termed a “cooling gap” in the Environmental Management Plans (EMPs), alleging that key details regarding cooling systems had not been disclosed. According to them, the documents did not specify whether the facilities would use air-cooled, chilled-water, evaporative or liquid-immersion technologies. They also said there was no information on cooling water demand, thermal load calculations, energy consumption for cooling, heat rejection volumes, wastewater generation or refrigerant leakage risks.
The scientists urged SEIAA to reclassify hyperscale data centres as industrial infrastructure projects and re-examine environmental clearances already granted. They also called for mandatory disclosure of cooling technologies, thermal load calculations, power usage effectiveness data, and annual greenhouse gas emissions.
The group cited the proposed Peddavedu data centre as an example of what they described as “scientific implausibility.” They pointed out that the project is proposed to have a disclosed power requirement of 278 MW and to include 110 diesel generator sets, each with a capacity of 3500 kVA. However, they noted that the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) lists a total water requirement of only 302.1 KLD, of which 290 KLD is allocated to greenbelt irrigation and just 12.1 KLD for domestic use.
Describing these figures as inconsistent, the representation argued that it would be “scientifically impossible” to dissipate such a large thermal load with near-zero cooling water, unless either an energy-intensive dry-cooling system is proposed or essential details have been withheld.
