Airtel Commissions 21 MW Solar Power Unit in Maharashtra The captive unit will supply clean energy to Airtel's data centers and switching centers in the state and will reduce carbon emissions by 25,517 tonnes annually
By Shrabona Ghosh •
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Bharti Airtel, India's premier communications solutions provider, has announced the commissioning of a new 21 megawatt solar power plant in district Bhuldana, Maharashtra as part of the company's commitment to progressively reduce its carbon footprint and contribute to the global efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The captive power unit, which is spread over 80 acres, has been set up by Airtel in partnership with Avaada to supply clean energy to Nxtra by Airtel. The captive unit will supply clean energy to Airtel's data centers and switching centers in the state and will reduce carbon emissions by 25,517 tonnes annually
"Sustainability is a priority area for Nxtra by Airtel. This is another step towards fulfilling our commitment to source more than 50 per cent power requirements of our data centres through renewable energy sources in next 12 months and contribute to Airtel's overall GHG emission reduction targets," Rajesh Tapadia, CEO, Nxtra by Airtel.
Nxtra by Airtel has already commissioned two captive solar power units of 14 megawatt in Uttar Pradesh as part of its focus on green energy sources to power its growing operations. The company has the largest network of data centers in India with 11 large and 120 edge data centers across the country and will invest over INR 5,000 crore over the next four years to expand its capacity by three times.
Airtel is aligned to the Paris Climate Accord. It benchmarks against global standards and transparently publishes the progress it makes against the targets it has set itself. Airtel is the first Indian telecom company to join the UN Global Compact - the largest corporate sustainability initiative in the world comprising comprehensive environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives.
Headquartered in India, Airtel is a global communications solutions provider with over 480 million customers in 17 countries across south Asia and Africa. The company ranks amongst the top three mobile operators globally and its networks cover over two billion people.
