Data centres are the backbone of the digital age, powering everything from social media and e-commerce to cloud computing and mobile communications. However, traditional data centres consume an enormous amount of power and are major contributors to carbon emissions and environmental degradation. Now, with the increasing focus on carbon reduction, there is a move towards green data centres, which seek to minimise the environmental impact of these facilities while still providing the essential services that power the digital economy. Green data centres are designed for maximum efficiency and minimum environmental impact by recycling and reusing water, substituting conventional power with renewable energy sources, managing e-waste in an environmentally safe manner, etc. By adopting sustainable practices, green data centres are helping businesses reduce their carbon footprint and operational expenditure.
Green technology made its way into data centres over a decade ago, at a time when solar module costs were high, making it a tough sell. Since then, green technology in data centres has come a long way. Solar panels were once considered a costly investment, but as the demand for green energy has grown, so has the affordability and feasibility of renewable energy solutions. Data centre operators and owners are now more willing to invest in renewable energy as they aim to improve their efficiency and reduce their carbon emissions. In addition to the environmental benefits, green energy solutions can offer cost savings and help in building brand reputation. As the demand for data centres continues to grow, companies that prioritise sustainability and invest in green energy solutions will have a competitive advantage in the market.
Initiatives for green data centres
Green data centres are gaining traction to reduce carbon emissions and lower operational expenditure. Many companies in India are investing in green energy solutions to power their data centres. In September 2022, Bharti Airtel announced that its subsidiary, Nxtra Data Limited, had partnered with Bloom Energy to deploy low-environmental impact fuel cells at its data centre in Karnataka, unlocking both cost and sustainability benefits. Nxtra currently operates 10 large and 120 edge data centres across India. This is just one of several initiatives taken by Nxtra to reduce carbon emissions from its data centres. In 2021, the company commissioned a 14 MWp captive solar power plant to meet the energy requirements of its core and edge data centres in Uttar Pradesh.
Meanwhile, Airtel has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) to source electricity from a 9 MW hydropower plant for its data centres in Delhi and has partnered with Avaada Energy to source solar power from 65 MW of solar PV assets. The company has also explored the option of redeeming I-REC certificates against electricity consumption at its data centre facilities to reinforce its renewable energy sourcing programme. Additionally, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited plans to build a solar-powered data centre in Uttar Pradesh at an investment of around $950 million. Adani Enterprises Limited has also partnered with EdgeConneX to develop 1 GW of data centre capacity that will be powered by renewable energy.
Sify Technologies Limited recently concluded PPAs with Vibrant Energy Holdings Private Limited for 231 MW of solar and wind energy capacity to power its latest hyperscale data centres. Hyderabad-based CtrlS Datacentres Limited has installed a building-integrated solar plant at its Mumbai data centre, generating 1.8 MUs of power per year and offsetting 620 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. The company plans to implement captive solar power plants with a total capacity of 200 MW.
Global data centre player NTT is rapidly expanding its renewable energy capacity to meet the power needs of its growing data centre operations. Its first 50 MW captive solar power plant was set up in Solapur, Maharashtra, in collaboration with Tata Power Renewable Energy Company. It caters to the energy needs of its Mumbai data centres. The company is reportedly implementing another 50 MW solar project as well as a hybrid renewable energy project to meet its energy needs. The company also reportedly sources renewable energy through the open access route to meet its power needs in a few cities.
Solar energy driving sustainability
Owing to the government’s push, India has been experiencing an increase in solar energy adoption. The country has experienced an eightfold increase in installed solar capacity in the past six years. Data centre players have also been stepping up the adoption of solar energy. For instance, Nxtra by Airtel has set up two captive solar power units in Uttar Pradesh and one in Maharashtra. STT GDC India has signed a solar PPA with Avaada Energy. Further, Capitaland has released its 2030 Sustainability Master Plan. The draft National Data Centre Policy also provisions the establishment of captive renewable energy power units.
Green hydrogen for data centres
While green data centres globally have so far utilised solar and wind power to meet their energy requirement, green hydrogen is gaining interest as a reliable renewable energy option. For instance, Microsoft, in association with Plug, a pioneer in building end-to-end green hydrogen ecosystems, recently tested a hydrogen fuel cell system to replace a traditional diesel-powered backup generator at a large data centre. After successfully completing the prototype testing, Plug is now focused on rolling out an optimised commercial version of high-power stationary fuel cell systems that Microsoft reportedly plans to install in one of its research data centres.
Hydrogen fuel cells offer superior efficiency and dependability in comparison to on-grid solutions. They also produce minimal to zero carbon emissions, require minimal maintenance and are modular in design.
In Union Budget 2023-24, the Indian government approved a $2.11 billion incentive plan to boost local production and encourage the use of green hydrogen. The country aims for an annual production of 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030. Nxtra will be the first company in India to deploy fuel cell technology, which converts chemical energy from hydrogen and other fuels to electricity through an electrochemical reaction and not combustion, at its data centre in Karnataka.
Need for newer solutions
While data centre operators have been focusing on driving solar energy uptake, this will not be enough to attain a 100 per cent renewable energy adoption. Newer solutions need to be developed to achieve this target. Further, investments need to be driven to increase renewable energy adoption. Data centre operators should evaluate various sustainable energy options from a technology standpoint. The focus should not be restricted to solar and wind as green hydrogen is being experimented with. For instance, in a particular region, companies utilised liquid gas for an industrial process that generated enough cooling, allowing them to consider establishing a data centre adjacent to it. These newer options need to be evaluated as well.
Roadblocks in the way
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, by 2050, renewable energy can and should account for 90 per cent of the world’s electricity. However, the challenge with renewable energy is its intermittent nature, which creates flexibility issues for data centres. The variability of wind and solar sources may not align with a data centre’s demand profile. Currently, the electricity grid is ill-equipped to handle such a significant amount of renewable energy and is at risk of failure.
Further, according to the International Energy Agency, achieving a 100 per cent match of annual demand with renewable energy purchases or certificates does not necessarily mean that data centres are actually powered exclusively by renewable sources. Renewable energy certificates, in particular, are unlikely to lead to additional renewable energy production, resulting in inflated estimates of real-world emissions mitigation.
Future of sustainable data centres
Energy is the price to be paid for digitalisation, and the energy required to achieve the level of digitalisation India aspires for is only going to rise in the coming years. JLL Inc. estimates that India’s data centre capacity will double from 499 MW IT load as of September 2021 to 1,007 MW IT load by 2023, resulting in increased power demand. Emerging services and technologies such as streaming, cloud gaming, blockchain, machine learning and virtual reality are also driving the demand for data services.
Therefore, as a step towards a sustainable future, data centres must adopt grid-interactive alternatives to diesel gensets, invest in flexible storage systems and hydrogen fuel cells and upgrade their software and hardware.
