Uruguay Signs $5.7 Billion Deal with Solaria for 500MW of Solar-Powered Data Center Capacity

Uruguay has signed a $5.7 billion agreement with Spanish renewable energy and data center developer Solaria Energía y Medio Ambiente to build up to 500MW of solar-powered data center capacity in the country, marking one of the largest digital infrastructure investments in the Latin American nation's history and reinforcing its ambitions to position itself as a regional digital hub.

The deal was signed earlier this week by Uruguay's president, Yamandú Orsi. The data center component is expected to cost approximately $5.5 billion, with the associated solar generation project estimated at $200 million. The entire development will operate under Uruguay's free zone regime, a framework designed to attract foreign investment through tax and customs incentives.

The project will be rolled out in two phases. The first phase comprises a 200MW data center alongside a 350MW solar facility, with completion targeted for 2029. The second phase will add a further 300MW of data center capacity and includes an option to expand the solar project. The facilities will be distributed across the departments of Canelones, San José, and Florida. The first phase alone is expected to create 3,100 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent positions once the data center and associated solar farm are operational.

Uruguay's minister of energy and mining, Fernanda Cardona, described the agreement as "a national project, from which all parties will benefit," citing the quantity and quality of jobs it will generate in the country's interior and noting that "it represents positive capital accumulation." She added: "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."

The agreement deepens Solaria's footprint in Uruguay, where it has operated for nearly a decade through two solar plants in Río Negro and Soriano with a combined capacity of 19MW. Founded in 2002, the Madrid-based company operates dozens of solar installations across Spain, Portugal, and Italy, and holds approximately 1.6GW of installed solar capacity with more than 1.4GW under construction. It is also developing wind and battery energy storage projects, targeting 14GW of total capacity by 2028 and 18GW by 2030. Solaria entered the data center market last year with the formation of Solaria Data Center and has since secured grid connection approvals in Spain for multiple projects, including 225MW in the Basque Country and 130MW across two facilities in Madrid. In September, the firm announced it was building a 200MW artificial intelligence data center with Japanese technology company Datasection at its industrial facilities in Puertollano, and in November it formally launched a European sustainable data center platform.

The Uruguay project underscores a growing trend among data center developers to pair new capacity with dedicated renewable energy generation, as operators seek to manage power costs and meet sustainability commitments amid surging demand for cloud and AI workloads across Latin America. For Uruguay, the investment represents a significant vote of confidence in its free zone framework and its ability to attract large-scale technology infrastructure, with the government framing the deal as a catalyst for building a local value chain in renewable energy and digital services.