Information and communication technology solutions provider Sify Technologies Limited said it plans to tap more than 200 MW of renewable energy for its data centre business over the next four years.
The Chennai-based, Nasdaq-listed company on Wednesday announced its partnership with Vibrant Energy Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of Blue Leaf Energy Asia Pte Ltd, and a portfolio company of Macquarie's Green Investment Group (GIG).
According to Chief Financial Officer of Sify M.P. Vijay Kumar, the partnership with Vibrant Energy was to enable 231 MW of solar and wind energy capacity to power Sify’s unit in Mumbai.
Recently, Sify signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Vibrant Energy Holdings. The PPAs are for a total of 231 MW of solar and wind energy capacity to power the latest data centres of Sify. Of the 231 MW, PPA for 67 MW was recently implemented. The partnership is the first step in a clear road map for the company to minimise its dependence on fossil fuels to power the data centre business. At the same time, Sify is investing in solar and wind energy to deliver most of the power required for its flagship data centres in Mumbai.
"In Mumbai, we have data centres in three locations," he told reporters.
On the partnership with Vibrant Energy, he said, "As far as the nature of partnership is concerned, it is on a captive power purchase model where the entire facility will be set up by Macquarie GIG- sponsored Vibrant Energy." Vibrant would be setting up the facility, design, construct and operate the facility and make available the power for Sify Technologies for use, he said.
To a query as to whether the partnership was specific to the data centre in Mumbai, Mr. Kumar clarified that discussions were on with the Vibrant Energy for other data centres.
"We are scheduled to create about 200 MW of capacity of data centres in the next four years. Some projects are underway with construction already having commenced while some are scheduled to commence," he said.
The Sify’s data centre business is spread across six cities with 11 centres. “We are on track to add another 200 MW capacity in the next four years and spread across multiple cities, and beyond,” he said.
Sify chairman Raju Vegesna said: "With the constantly expanding need for world-class data centre facilities to meet the burgeoning data-centric transformation of businesses, we believe that investing in clean energy sources to fuel this transformation is imperative."
