Indian telco Bharti Airtel has commissioned a solar farm to power its data centers.
The 14MWp (14MW peak power output) solar plant will power the requirements of its core and edge data centers in the Uttar Pradesh region of India.
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Airtel & Nxtra look to go green
The facility in Tilhar, in the district of Shahjahanpur, is the first of two solar plants being set up by Airtel in partnership with AMP Energy. The company has a second plant at Begampur in West Bengal’s Hooghly district, which is expected to go live in the next quarter.
“As a responsible corporate, green energy is a top agenda for Airtel,” said Rajesh Tapadia, CEO of Nxtra Data, Airtel’s data center business unit. “We take pride in being ahead of the curve when it comes to implementing sustainability initiatives. We will continue to accelerate our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint through multiple interventions.”
Through its Nxtra subsidiary, Airtel operates 10 large and 120 edge data centers across India. The company aims to meet over half of its power input through renewable energy sources by 2022. Airtel acquired 26 percent stake in AMP Solar Evolution – a special purpose vehicle for the purpose of setting up captive solar power projects in Uttar Pradesh – in 2019 for Rs 8.4 crore ($1.1 million).
Last month STT GDC India announces renewable energy deal with Avaada Energy to buy 99 Million kWh of renewable energy for its data centers in Maharashtra.
