Bharti Airtel on Monday announced that it will purchase 23,000 MWh of renewable energy by the fourth quarter of FY24 for its data centre company, Nxtra, by acquiring stakes in the renewable energy project companies established by Continuum Green India and Vibrant Energy Holdings, to power six of Nxtra’s edge data centre facilities.
The purchase will be made through an open access route where Airtel will acquire stake in the project company of Continuum Green, which will supply green power from solar and wind power projects to its edge data centres in Madhya Pradesh, the company said.
Airtel has also entered into a similar stake purchase agreement with the project company Vibrant Energy to supply solar power to its edge data centre in Vijayawada. With the addition of these new capacities, the total contracted renewable energy capacity for Nxtra data centres will have exceeded 2,74,000 MWh and it will be well on its way to establishing itself as the leader in building green data centres, it said.
Net zero vision
“As a leader in India’s data centre industry, Nxtra is committed to become a net zero company by 2031. We believe that India’s growth will be mirrored by its data centre industry growth in the coming years and are committed to reduce our carbon footprint and lead the green data centre infrastructure revolution in the country,” Ashish Arora, Chief Executive Officer – Nxtra by Airtel, said.
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Nxtra has committed to reducing absolute scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across its operations by 100 per cent, reaching net zero by FY31 (with FY21 as the base year). It will achieve this through multiple interventions including accelerated green energy adoption across its operations, energy efficient infrastructure and processes as well as by implementing sustainable business practices at its workplace, it said.
Nxtra offers network of secure, scalable and sustainable data centre across over 120 locations to leading enterprises, hyper-scalers, start-ups, SMEs and governments. The company will invest ₹5,000 crore to double its existing capacity to over 400 MW in the next few years. This also includes investments in new facilities in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune, it added.
Published on September 4, 2023
