Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), one of India’s leading telecommunications service providers, announced that it will purchase 23,000 MWh of renewable energy by Q4 FY 23-24 for its data center company, Nxtra. As part of its commitment to reducing its carbon footprint, Airtel will acquire stakes in the renewable energy project companies established by Continuum Green India Pvt. Ltd. and Vibrant Energy Holdings Pte. Ltd. to power six of Nxtra’s Edge data center 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 centers in Madhya Pradesh. Airtel has also entered into a similar stake purchase agreement with the project company Vibrant Energy to supply solar power to its Edge data center in Vijaywada.
With the addition of these new capacities, the total contracted renewable energy capacity for Nxtra data centers will have exceeded 274,000 MWh and it will be well on its way to establishing itself as the leader in building green data centers.
Ashish Arora, CEO – Nxtra by Airtel, said, “As a leader in India’s data center industry, Nxtra is committed to become a Net Zero Company by 2031. We believe that India’s growth will be mirrored by its Data Center industry growth in the coming years and are committed to reduce our carbon footprint and lead the Green Data Center infrastructure revolution in the country.”
Nxtra by Airtel has committed to reducing absolute scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across its operations by 100%, i.e., reaching net zero by FY2031 (with FY2021 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.
Nxtra by Airtel offers India’s largest network of secure, scalable and sustainable data centers across 120+ locations to leading enterprises, hyperscalers, start-ups, SMEs and governments. The company will invest INR 5000 crores to double its existing capacity to over 400 MW in the next few years. This also includes investments in new facilities in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune and Mumbai.