MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay signs a US$5.7 billion data centre investment with Spain’s Solaria

The project, under a free-trade-zone regime, will allocate US$5.5 billion to the data centres and US$200 million to a 350-megawatt solar plant to supply the complex

Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi on Wednesday signed an agreement with Spanish company Solaria Energía y Medio Ambiente to develop a data centre campus of up to 500 megawatts with its own solar generation, a US$5.7 billion investment the government described as the largest in the country’s history. The opposition has demanded explanations about the company’s financial capacity and the jobs the project will create.

The project, under a free-trade-zone regime, will allocate US$5.5 billion to the data centres and US$200 million to a 350-megawatt solar plant to supply the complex. It will be built in two phases: the first, with 200 megawatts of data centres in Canelones and the solar plant in Florida; the second, with a further 300 megawatts in San José. Construction would begin in 2027. The planned 500 megawatts are equivalent to almost a tenth of Uruguay’s installed power capacity.

In a filing with Spain’s securities regulator, Solaria said the memorandum provides for a power purchase agreement of up to 40 years with state utility UTE, and that the company will develop and operate the free zone and its connection to the transmission grid. The campus, initially geared to cloud services, will use low-water cooling systems. The listed company has operated in Uruguay for almost a decade. Orsi called the agreement “a signal from Uruguay to the world” and credited state policies maintained by successive governments.

According to the government, the project will create 3,100 jobs during construction and 1,500 permanent posts. The opposition National Party said it will summon Industry Minister Fernanda Cardona to Parliament. “There is not a single private analyst, of the 10 I consulted, who tells me Solaria is in a position to take on a US$5.7 billion investment,” said Senator Sebastián Da Silva, who also questioned the employment figures.

UTE’s opposition board member, Darío Castiglioni, has requested the agreement’s documentation and the technical and legal reports supporting it. The utility’s vice president, Roberto Bentancor, said confidentiality had been maintained because Solaria had “other offers” that could have led it to drop Uruguay, and pledged to provide the information.