Karnataka wants to dramatically expand its data centre footprint. But this time, the state says the growth must come with a tighter check on how much power and water these facilities consume.

Its new Sustainable Data Centre Policy 2026–2031 targets 1 GW of cumulative data centre IT load by 2031 and a 10–12% share of India’s AI-ready data centre ecosystem. At the same time, it proposes incentives linked to energy and water efficiency, resource mapping to identify areas with adequate power and water, and greater use of renewable energy and treated water. 

The shift comes as Karnataka already has 32 data centres, even as questions remain over how much water the existing facilities consume. TNM had earlier reported that neither the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) nor the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) separately tracked water use by data centres. The IT department estimated that the state's 32 data centres consume around 4,000 kilolitres of water a day, based on informal inputs from operators.

Now, the new policy proposes to map water and energy availability across existing and proposed data centre locations before planning further expansion. 

Renewable energy, energy efficiency and water conservation

The policy encourages data centres to increase their use of renewable energy through state power procurement and open-access mechanisms.

It also introduces incentives linked directly to how efficiently data centres use electricity and water.

Data centres will have to report Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE) on a plant-wise basis. PUE measures the total energy consumed by a facility against the energy used by its IT equipment, while WUE measures water consumption in relation to IT energy consumption.

PUE is calculated by dividing a data centre’s total energy consumption by the energy used by its IT equipment. A PUE of 1.0 is ideal, as it means all the power is being used by the computing equipment, with no additional consumption for cooling and other supporting systems.

WUE measures how much water a data centre uses for every unit of energy consumed by its IT equipment. It is calculated by dividing annual water consumption in litres by IT equipment energy consumption in kWh. A lower WUE indicates lower water use.

Up to Rs 20 crore for energy-efficient data centres

The government will provide PUE-linked financial incentives to encourage energy-efficient data........

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