Why has Green AI/Data Centre proposal in Andaman & Nicobar been withdrawn?

The Andaman & Nicobar Islands administration decided to withdraw a proposal seeking Expression of Interest (EoI) for development of a private sector-led Green Data Centre in the Islands, citing administrative reasons.

The EoI was published on August 10 and was withdrawn on August 14 by the A&N Islands administration. It had invited private companies, including cloud service providers, AI infrastructure companies, and data centre developers, interested in exploring the feasibility of establishing a "green" artificial intelligence (AI) or data centre vertical in Great Nicobar or Little Andaman.

The administration has cited a few potential locations for the vertical, including Great Nicobar's Campbell Bay Sea, Anderson Bay Sea, Vijay Nagar Bay Sea, Gandhi Nagar Bay Sea, Little Andaman's Hutbay Sea, and Netaji Nagar Sea.

The sea areas earmarked for the data centre project were along bays that had been marked for a wildlife corridor, agriculture and biodiversity tourism, coastal and business tourism activities, residential areas and administrative buildings in the draft master plan, said media reports.

The development came amid concerns about the environmental impacts of the upcoming Great Nicobar mega infrastructure project worth Rs 81,000crore.

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The proposal

The Andaman & Nicobar Administration called EoI reputed hyperscalers, cloud service providers, AI infrastructure companies, data centre developers and operators, marine-engineering companies, renewable-energy companies, sub-sea connectivity providers and other technically qualified entities for exploring the feasibility of establishing a Private Sector-led Green AI/Data Centre Vertical in Great Nicobar or Little Andaman.

It added that the vertical was intended to "explore the development of a future-ready, energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable digital infrastructure ecosystem leveraging the strategic location and natural advantages of the Islands."

The vertical can include hyperscale and/or AI-focused data centre infrastructure; graphics processing unit (GPU) and high-performance computing infrastructure; cloud computing and sovereign digital infrastructure; and renewable-energy-powered data centre operations.

It may also consist of seawater-based or other innovative cooling systems; freshwater-free cooling solutions; waste-heat recovery and potential utilisation for low-temperature desalination or other productive applications; and submarine and terrestrial digital connectivity.

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