In acoustic terms, a data centre is a facility that never switches off. Cooling systems run continuously, and the backup diesel generators start up every time they are tested or the grid fails. Two things happened one day apart in January 2026: the SEA published its first assessment criterion for these projects, and an amendment to the SEIA Regulation took several of them out of environmental assessment altogether. Together they change where the acoustic risk of a data centre sits in Chile.
What the SEA criterion says about noise
The SEIA assessment criterion: introduction to data centre projects, published by the SEA on 20 January 2026, begins by acknowledging that these projects have no entry typology of their own and must be analysed case by case. Its guidance tables identify noise across all three phases. During construction, noise and vibration emissions posing a risk to public health and affecting wildlife habitat. During operation, noise emissions from the diesel generators and from the cooling systems. During closure, the dismantling of the infrastructure. The acoustic component is named from beginning to end, and the two sources the criterion singles out in the operational phase are precisely the ones that define the noise of a facility of this kind.
The change that took several data centres out of the SEIA
Many data centres entered the SEIA for an indirect reason: the diesel tank feeding the backup generators. D.S. No. 17/2025, which amended the SEIA Regulation and has been in force since 21 January 2026, raised the storage threshold for flammable substances from 80,000 kilograms to 1,000 tonnes, and added to transmission lines above 23 kV the condition of exceeding 2 kilometres in length. A project whose only reason for entering was its backup fuel may now fall below those thresholds and outside the obligation to be assessed.
Leaving the SEIA does not exempt you from the noise standard
This is the point worth keeping straight. The noise emission standard for stationary sources — today D.S. No. 38/2011 and, once in force, D.S. No. 14/2024 — applies to the source by virtue of emitting noise towards receptors, regardless of whether the project went through the SEIA. What disappears when a data centre falls outside assessment is not the duty to comply: it is the standardised procedure that required the noise to be studied before construction. The risk moves downstream, to enforcement and to community complaints, once the equipment is already installed and fixing it costs several times more than designing it well. Taking noise into account, at a minimum, is essential if a project of this kind is to avoid problems with the community.
How we help
At Acústica Austral we assess compliance with the stationary-source standard, design the noise control for cooling and backup generation, and measure the result once the solution is installed to put in writing whether the requirement was met.
If you are developing a data centre, with or without SEIA entry, book a 20-minute call and we will review your case.
He leads Acústica Austral’s environmental noise and vibration studies for the SEIA across energy, port and infrastructure projects, and has contributed to reference work for Chile’s Ministry of the Environment.
Meet the team →Free resources for your project
Guide to the D.S. N°14/2024 and the acoustic checklist for entering the SEIA, in PDF. We email them to you.