Governments and local councils globally are struggling to regulate the rapid expansion of data centres fueled by the AI boom. In Canada, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced a new framework requiring data centres to pay their own energy costs and higher electricity rates, while municipalities like Oakville enact moratoriums. In India, Google's proposed $15-billion AI hub in Visakhapatnam faces intense legal challenges over water shortages and wildlife proximity, highlighting the severe environmental and grid pressures of digital infrastructure.
Data centre capacity expansion
- ▪India's data-centre capacity grew from approximately 375 megawatts in 2020 to 1,500 megawatts in 2025, according to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
- ▪The Council on Energy, Environment and Water estimates that India's data-centre capacity could reach 4.5 to 6.5 gigawatts by 2030.
- ▪India had approximately 271 data centres as of January 2026, with Mumbai accounting for nearly a quarter of them, followed by Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru.
Water consumption concerns
- ▪The Council on Energy, Environment and Water estimates that India's data centres use about 150 billion litres of water annually, with consumption expected to more than double by 2030.
- ▪City of Stirling Councillor Suzanne Migdale raised concerns that large data centres use large volumes of water for cooling and contribute to community water stress.
- ▪An assessment by WRI India found that more than half of India's data centres are located in water-stressed regions.
Energy infrastructure requirements
- ▪The International Energy Agency estimates that data centres worldwide consumed 415 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2024, representing about 1.5 percent of global electricity consumption.
- ▪The Indian Ministry of Power estimated in July 2026 that artificial intelligence data centres could add 26.3 gigawatts of electricity load to the national grid by 2031-32.
- ▪The Vidyut Karmchari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti UP opposed Adani's Noida parallel distribution licence, warning that public discoms like PVVNL could lose high-revenue consumers.
- ▪The Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission has entered the public consultation stage for Adani Energy Solutions Step-Eleven Limited's application for a parallel electricity distribution licence for a Noida data centre park.
Environmental impact opposition
- ▪Local activists in Visakhapatnam held protests carrying banners reading 'We cannot drink DATA' due to concerns over Google's data centre project exacerbating the city's water shortage.
- ▪Google's proposed $15-billion AI hub in Visakhapatnam, India, faces legal challenges before the Andhra Pradesh High Court and the National Green Tribunal over water and wildlife concerns.
Government regulatory frameworks
- ▪Ontario's new data centre framework bases project approvals on three pillars: economic development, data protection and sovereignty, and community investment and public confidence.
- ▪The Ontario government released a data centre framework on August 13, 2026, requiring facilities to cover all their energy costs and potentially pay higher electricity rates than other industrial users.
- ▪The Indian Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change stated that artificial intelligence data centres do not independently require environmental clearance under the 2006 Environmental Impact Assessment notification.
Planning approval uncertainties
- ▪Oakville became the first Ontario municipality to enact a one-year moratorium on data centres on August 11, 2026, while Mississauga is scheduled to vote on a similar pause in September 2026.
- ▪Planning lawyer Belinda Moharich stated that data centres are not a defined land use in Western Australian planning schemes, forcing councils to classify them as warehouses or industrial uses.
- ▪A motion by Councillor Suzanne Migdale to ban data centres in the City of Stirling, Western Australia, failed by a vote of four to eight on August 11, 2026.
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