It started with the de jure and de facto Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh peddling the astronomical number of 1,88,000. This is the number of jobs the proposed 1 GW/2.512 GW Google Data Center in Visakhapatnam is supposed to bring to the state. It was splashed all across the media, which carried it dutifully, and social media, which amplified it purposefully.
However, what happened later, as can be evidenced from the document trail, is that both the number and the name have vanished. Neither 1, 88, 000 nor Google means anything anymore. For, according to the initial proposal submitted by the Raiden Infotech India Private Limited - the fourth step-down subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. – the total number of jobs to be provided by the 1 GW Hyperscale AI Data Center is 200. The number is later revised to 12000, 4000 each in Tarluvada, Rambilli, Mudasarlova Data Centers, as per Detailed Project Reports - a misnomer, for these DPRs have no details, let alone being detailed – submitted by a company called Adani Infra (India) Limited. The number was later substantially revised downwards to 1725 – 575 in Tarluvada, 650 in Rambilli, 500 in Mudasarlova – in the proposals submitted by Adani for Environmental Clearance.
So, it has been 200-1,88,000-12,000-1,725.
While the number of jobs has been fluctuating wildly, the capacity of these proposed Data Centers did not lag behind. While the documents of Raiden say 1000 MW – 400 MW in Tarluavada, 300 MW in Rambilli, 300 MW in Mudasarlova- the number was enhanced to 2250 MW – 1000 MW in Tarluvada, 1000 MW in Rambilli, 512 MW in Mudasarlova - in the proposals submitted for Environmental Clearances by Adani. It was the same with the land. From 480 acres it moved to somewhere on the higher side of 500 and finally to a little bit above 600.
Never mind nor question how the DPRs that were prepared and submitted based on one set of numbers are valid for another set of vastly higher numbers.
While it may be so, none knows what these Data Centers entail - chips (the information of which can be considered proprietary), the cooling system, coolants, server racks, rack density, etc. One would be hard pressed to find if these are CPU-enabled servers or GPU-enabled servers or a mix of both. The only hint that has been let out is that these Data Centers would be put to use for inference rather than training the AI models. Probably, some cloud storage will be thrown in as well.
Even the basic details are as sketchy as the whole project.
The water requirement numbers are even sketchier. While the documents are absolutely silent on the water requirement, a number that was printed in their pages is 600 KLD for each Data Center. This would make it 0.657 billion Liters or 0.02 TMC/annum. This water, they say, will be sourced through Rural Water Supply Department along with tankers! Yes, the same water tankers Visakhapatnam residents are desperately dependent upon during this ongoing El Nino season.
The farce doesn’t end here. The numbers provided in the proposals for Environmental Clearances are as follows: Tarluvada – 267 KLD, Rambilli- 234 KLD, Mudarsarlova- 307 KLD. This would take the total requirement to 0.294 billion Liters/annum or 0.008 TMC/annum.
However, if we go by the number adopted by the UN Economic Commission for Europe in Sustainable Data Centers Report released in May 2026, the water requirement on a conservative basis would be 64 billion Litres or 2.26 TMC/annum. Or, alternatively, if we go by the numbers submitted by Reliance about their proposed AI Data Center in Bhogapuram (about which we will talk in a bit) the water requirement for these 3 Data Centers at 2.512 GW should be 2.83 TMC/annum.
So, it has been 0.02–0.08–2.26– 2.83.
Let us now come to the power requirement. This finds no place except when asking for incentives to the tune of Rs. 15,000 Cr. and a Deemed Distribution License (DDL). However, if we go by the stray numbers in their documents, it appears that the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of these Data Centers is going to be 1.5. So, upon assuming that these 3 Data Centers run at their full capacity for 24 hours a day for 365 days a year, the power requirement would be 33,007 million Units, way more than total power consumption by 11 districts, including Visakhapatnam District of which Visakhapatnam is part of, supplied by the Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Corporation Limited (APEPDCL) in the FY 2025-26, which was 26,618 million Units.
While none of these are even remotely averred to in any of the official documents or put before people, what is, to their credit, put in public domain is the quantum of incentives offered by the government. By December 2025, Google was more or less out of the picture and Adani was running the show. The quantum of fiscal incentives they sought was Rs, 22, 002 Cr., of which around Rs. 15000 Cr. was related to power supply, that includes capital subsidy, reimbursements, tariff subsidy, etc. The government agreed to provide the entire amount they asked for. A perfect match made in who knows where! Non-fiscal incentives included supply of water, sale deeds for the lands, and strangely Deemed Distribution License (DDL). Sale Deed is under active consideration in the name of three SPVs set up by Adani. Never mind that these three SPVs have no existence in the official documents of the government nor the fact that they are not the notified partners, as has been noted by none less than the government itself.
In a nutshell, DDL cannot be granted for self-consumption. Even the Energy Department, AP TRANSCO, DISCOMS said the same. So did long-serving power sector bureaucrats and energy researchers. It has no legal basis, not in the statute, not according to the pronouncements of the Supreme Court. The government has no power to grant or recommend. But the government anyway went ahead and recommended DDL for Data Centers with capacity above 300 MW. Legalities be damned, DISCOMS be throttled, what matters is satisfying the West Indian Company.
The Company asketh, the government giveth, no questions asked, no consent sought. One cannot miss sight of the fact that the government agreed to the last penny. Not a single rupee of incentive was refused. All for? Zilch. Zero. Nothing. An ideological, vain-glorious project.
Reliance Data Center
Closely following Adani, Reliance entered the picture with their 1500 MW AI Data Center proposal in Bhogapuram. They have already identified three villages, viz., Polipally, Bhogaouram East, Bhogapuram West. The total land agreed upon is a little about above 850 acres. This is smart identification. Now all these are close to the newly inaugurated airport. Land Prices are quite high. It is good to hold land near the airport, whether it is put for any use or not, that too when provided at a huge discount by the government. The government agreed to provide 25% discount for these lands as part of the nearly Rs. 20, 000 Cr. incentive package. All for potential, probable 1000 jobs. Potential, Probable are the key words. They can mean anything. When push comes to the shove, they can equally mean nothing.
However, Reliance has been more open about their water and power requirements. Their proposal was honest enough to say that their Data Center would require 1,31,040 KLD, which is basically 1.69 TMC/annum. APIIC noted much higher requirement. It is 2,00,000 KLD, which is 2.58 TMC/annum. All the government departments related to water, viz., WRD, RWS, and others made it clear that they cannot supply such quantity of water. APIIC said the same. That did not deter the SIPB to promise that requisite water shall be supplied to them. Alternatively, desalination plant is also being talked about.
It appears that Reliance too calculated that the PUE would be 1.5. So, assuming that the Data Center runs at a full capacity for 24 hours a day for 365 days a year, the power requirement would be 19,710 million Units/Year. They say they have plans to develop their own solar park in Sri Sathya Sai District and would source 85% of the requirement from that. Now, assuming Capacity Utilization Factor (CUF) of 20%, it would need a solar park of 9.3 GW capacity. It requires around 4-5 acres for one MW, so for 9.3 GW they need around 45000 acres. This more or less tallies with the publicly available data regarding Reliance’s proposed solar park in Sri Sathya Sai District. However, the proposed land extent is a whopping 95000 acres This is the actual land requirement of this Data Center. All this just to power their Data Center.
If we take Reliance’s numbers regarding water and power as the basis for calculation, the total water requirement for the proposed almost 8 GW AI Data Center capacity in and around Visakhapatnam would require 9 TMC/annum. If APIIC numbers are considered for water requirement, it would be 13.75 TMC/annum. Similarly, the power requirement would be 1,03,936 million Units/Year.
Our de jure and de facto Chief Ministers have among themselves progressed from 1 TMC to 5 TMC requirement via 3 and 3.5 TMC in their public announcements and Assembly statements. Soon they might arrive at the correct number. In the meanwhile, either of them could enlighten people about the source from which they will supply this water, for, according to the VMRDA Draft Master Plan, as of 2041, the total industrial water supply to Visakhapatnam, that includes various large industries and their upstream and downstream linkages, would be 3.9 TMC/annum. The domestic requirement would be the same, but the supply would be just 35% of the requirement. Where will the water come from? We are not even getting into the impossibility of year-round constant supply.
Concerning incentives, the Company asketh for Rs. 30,000 Cr., the government giveth Rs. 20,000 Cr. Again, all for? Ideological vain glory.
As an aside, the government had to eat a small, humble pie in this case. They have listed the villages in which they would acquire land for the Data Center in the initial G.O. itself. However, villagers challenged this in the Andhra Pradesh High Court as such identification is the remit of 2013 Land Acquisition Act. There is a whole process to be followed under the said Act. The government conceded that it cannot issue such as G.O. and issued an amended G.O. that removed the names of the villages.
Censoring Social Media Activity
At least 4 Instagram posts of Stop Dirty Data Centers have been restricted in India. So were 3 posts of the Human Rights Forum, and dozens of posts of various individuals, including two journalists who reported on these Data Centers. To its credit, X hasn’t restricted any posts, though it has intimated the users about the blocking requests from the government.
All were restricted according to Section. 79 (3) of The Information Technology Act, 2000, presumably read with Rule 3 (1)(d)(ii)(I) of The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. However, in each and every instance the Appropriate Government has conveniently chose to ignore Rule 3 (1)(d)(ii)(II) of the said Rules. Even otherwise, there should be an element of unlawfulness to invoke Section. 79 (3). But, again, all that will be known only when a copy of the restriction order is supplied, which hasn’t happened in any instance till date. It would not be out of place to assume that all these orders are being routed through Sahyog portal with which Meta has integrated its API. So, basically, the restriction is automatic, with no application of mind. Sahyog is already under challenge.
Not in one instance has the order been supplied to those whose posts were restricted. The Delhi High Court has been ordering since at least 2022 that a copy of blocking order should be supplied to those whose posts are blocked/restricted. It is only when it is supplied, the said order can be challenged. The scale of restriction of posts about Data Centers is unparalleled.
All in all, these are projects that are being aggressively pushed just to satisfy the ideological moorings of a few.
Gutta Rohith
Human Rights Forum (HRF) and an Advocate at the Andhra Pradesh High Court
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