Environmental protection is being given a major role in the projects undertaken to transform Andhra Pradesh into a key data hub. The company has announced that it will use state-of-the-art air-cooled technology to significantly reduce water consumption in the huge data centers being jointly built by Adani Connects and Google in Visakhapatnam. This new approach will be implemented in these campuses to be set up in Mudassarlova and Tarluvada areas.

Normally, data centers require a large amount of fresh water for their operation and cooling systems. However, in contrast, the use of air-cooling technology will almost eliminate the need for water. The total fresh water consumption of all these projects combined is estimated to be less than the size of an Olympic swimming pool. Of this, 80 percent of the water will be allocated only for needs such as employee facilities, kitchens, and greenery cultivation.

There have been concerns that these projects will affect water resources as they are located near the Mudassarlova reservoir and the Kambalakonda wildlife sanctuary. In this context, the company has clarified that it will collect water through specially established industrial water connections instead of relying on water sources used for domestic purposes. In addition, following the 'zero-discharge' policy, the wastewater generated in the project will be treated in an onsite plant and reused for irrigation and flushing purposes. It has been assured that there will be no question of releasing the treated water into the Mudasarlova reservoir.

Adani Connects is a joint venture of Adani Enterprises and EdgeConnects. The company is working with Google to develop hyperscale data centers with a capacity of about 1 gigawatt. With these projects and the activities of companies like Reliance and Airtel, Visakhapatnam will soon become an important data center and artificial intelligence (AI) hub in the country.