"Thane residents oppose Amazon data centre over heat, noise and power outage fears", 12 August 2026

Thane residents are opposing the facility being developed by Amazon Data Services India on a 53-acre plot. Estimated to involve an investment of around Rs 47,000 crore, the project is expected to be among the largest data centre facilities in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

Residents of Thane have stepped up their opposition to a proposed Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centre in Balkum, raising concerns over its location in a densely populated area and its potential impact on the local environment, power supply and quality of life…

… Residents have specifically raised concerns over heat generated by the facility, noise from nearly 190 diesel generator sets, exhaust emissions and the overall environmental impact of operating a large hyperscale data centre in a residential neighbourhood.

Amazon, meanwhile, has published a detailed response to several of the concerns raised by residents. On water consumption, the company said the Thane facility would not use water for cooling. “Amazon’s data centre development in Thane will not use any water for cooling. In fact, we do not currently use water for cooling in any of our data centres in India, and do not draw from the community’s drinking or potable water for cooling purposes,” it said.

Amazon said the approved water supply permit for the facility is 0.01 million litres per day and is intended only for basic human needs such as drinking water and restrooms for employees. It added that the facility would use air-cooled chillers and closed-loop cooling technology.

Residents, however, remain concerned about the amount of heat that could be generated by the facility…

Amazon rejected the concern that heat from the facility would raise temperatures in surrounding communities, saying heat management had been incorporated into the facility's design…