Is India Building Enough To Power Its Digital Transformation

INDIA MAKES RAPID STRIDES IN RENEWABLE POWER CAPACITY

INDIA’S SOLAR CAPACITY HAS INCREASED SHARPLY IN RECENT YEARS

Installed Solar capacity (GW)

Share of total renewable energy (%)

The improvement in India’s power iMajor nations across the world are actively pursuing the sustainability agenda for data centres and renewable energy is a key pillar of their strategies. India figures among the top five nations in terms of the installed renewable power capacity and policy initiatives are likely to drive usage of renewable power even further across the data centre space. Renewable power usage is also likely to get a boost through the net carbon emission targets adopted by various operators.

70

60

54

50

25

TOP FIVE NATIONS WITH HIGHEST INSTALLED RENEWABLE POWER CAPACITY 2022

40

20

40.1

34.6

30

15

28.2

21.7

20

10

BRAZIL

175

12.3

Installed Solar capacity (GW)

10

5

6.8

CHINA

1206

Share of total renewable energy (%)

0

0

FY 2020

FY 2022

FY 2016

FY 2018

FY 2019

FY 2021

FY 2017

GERMANY

Source: Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, India

Installed Renewable Power capacity (GW)

154

Most greenfield data centre developments have a stringent focus on sustainability norms with technology and materials being deployed that ensure not just efficiencies in power usage but also looking to facilitate optimization of water usage and lowering of carbon emissions. Given that a major proportion of upcoming data centres are likely to cater to global cloud firms, who themselves follow stringent sustainability norms, it is imperative for operators to put energy efficiency high on the agenda. Some important developments in this space are:

INDIA

168

USA

371

STT Global Data Centres has entered an agreement with Avaada Energy to procure solar power for its data centers

NTT GDC India has set up its solar and wind power generation facilities for data centres; US$100 million has been earmarked for clean energy initiatives

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400

600

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1200

Source: International Renewable Energy Agency *Data includes solar, wind, hydro, geothermal

Nxtra by Airtel has partnered Bloom Energy to deploy fuel cell clean energy tech to reduce carbon emissions at its data centre in Bengaluru

CapitaLand’s upcoming data center campus in Mumbai will adopt green building standards with features such as solar panels and waterless cooling systems

SOLAR DRIVES INDIA’S RENEWABLE PUSH In India, the growing awareness about sustainability and the need for energy efficiency and minimization of carbon emissions is reflected in the government push in favour of renewables, particularly solar energy. Thus, solar at the forefront of energy transition in India, including data centers. This is demonstrated by the 8x jump in installed solar capacity in last six years. The government has set an ambitious target of 300 GW by 2030. There are multiple policy initiatives in place including solar parks, rooftop solar installations, tariff policy etc. Data center policies implemented by various states incentivize renewable power usage in greenfield developments. Tamil Nadu, for instance, announced incentives to data centers using renewable energy for atleast 30% of power requirements

34% of STT GDC India’s facilities use renewable energy

CtrlS is investing in 153 MWp (Megawatt peak) solar projects in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh to generate 250,000 MWh for its data centres

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