SANTIAGO, May 8 (Reuters) - ⁠Patricio Hernandez lives on the northern outskirts of Chile's capital Santiago, a hilly area below the Andes mountains ⁠which he and other residents fear could be devastated by a major Amazon data center complex.

"This hill ‌is very important to the community; it is a green space, a place for recreation and for community," he said, while strolling dirt paths near a flowing stream.

He and other residents tried to block the data center, arguing the permit did not take into account the potential construction of a high-voltage ​power line that they said would be needed to feed the site.

They ⁠lost their case.

Environmental authorities in early April ruled ⁠the data center could move ahead, saying that any plans for a power line should be assessed separately.

Amazon Web Services ⁠said ‌it aims for the data center to consume minimal energy and water and that its plan had met the environmental requirements.

Data center construction has taken off worldwide as demand grows for the physical backbone fordata storage, computer processing ⁠and artificial intelligence. So too has opposition over fears that the energy and ​water consumption required by data centers ‌could drain resources, and that data centers could generate heat, cause noise pollution and rely on fossil fuels.