Airtel plugs in 21-MW solar farm for its data centres in India

A new 21-MW solar farm set up to power data centres of Indian telecommunications company Bharti Airtel Limited (NSE:BHARTIARTL) in the state of Maharashtra has been commissioned, Airtel announced this week.

The project was the work of Airtel in partnership with Indian independent power producer (IPP) Avaada Energy, and involved the installation of some 65,000 solar panels on an 80-acres-plus (32.4 ha) site in District Bhuldana.

The captive plant will supply power to Airtel’s subsidiary, Nxtra by Airtel, which will use it to meet consumption needs of its large and edge data centers, and switching centers in Maharashtra, the telecom said.

The Bhuldana project is part of Airtel’s efforts to progressively lower its carbon footprint, and the new solar farm alone is expected to lead to a reduction of over 25,500 tonnes of carbon emissions per year.

Nxtra by Airtel previously commissioned two captive solar farms of 14 MW each in the state of Uttar Pradesh as it was seeking to source green power for its growing network of data centres, Airtel added.

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!