Uruguay signs $5.7bn Solaria deal for up to 500MW of solar-paired data center capacity

Uruguay has signed a $5.7 billion agreement with Spain's Solaria Energía y Medio Ambiente to develop up to 500MW of solar-paired data center capacity, according to Data Center Dynamics.

The $5.7 billion divides between data centers and solar: $5.5 billion for data centers and $200 million for the associated solar project. Phase one is a 200MW data center paired with a 350MW solar project; phase two adds 300MW of data center capacity, with an option to expand the solar side.

Phase one is scheduled for completion in 2029 and is expected to create 3,100 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs when the data center and solar farm are finished, according to the report. The facilities will be distributed across Canelones, San José, and Florida, and the project will operate under Uruguay's free zone regime.

Energy and mining minister Fernanda Cardona called it “a national project, from which all parties will benefit,” citing jobs in the interior and “positive capital accumulation.” “This will generate a value chain, jobs, and knowledge for our entire population, and will reaffirm Uruguay as a digital hub, combining renewable energy with network capabilities, human talent, and the digital economy,” she said.

Solaria has operated in Uruguay for almost ten years and runs two solar plants, in Río Negro and Soriano, with a combined capacity of 19MW. The 350MW of solar in phase one is roughly eighteen times that base and about a fifth of the 1.6GW the developer has installed worldwide.

Solaria entered the data center business last year with the formation of Solaria Data Center. Reports at the time said the company had been granted connection requests for more than 150MW of capacity from the Spanish grid operator Red Eléctrica, and in March this year it received the green light from Red Eléctrica to connect 225MW. Uruguay's 500MW ceiling is more than twice that 225MW clearance, though the two numbers measure different things: an announced build programme against an approved grid connection.

The Spanish and Uruguayan projects secure power differently. In Spain, the data center plans rest on grid connection grants. In Uruguay, the generation sits inside the same development as the load: 350MW of solar against a 200MW first-phase data center.

No tenant or power buyer is named for the capacity. The facilities are expected to be powered in part by solar.

Capacity is not the same as energy, and both first-phase figures are stated in megawatts. That ratio does not by itself establish what supplies the load at any given hour. A rating scheme can be satisfied on a year's renewable output even as grid-access rules shift toward hourly matching.