Sify Technologies in top gear to tap renewable energy for data centers

Provider of solutions to information and communication technology Sify Technologies Limited has a plan to tap over 400 MW of renewable energy for its data center business over the next four years, according to an official of the company.

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 set up a 231 MW of solar and wind energy capacity to power the Sify 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 centers of Sify. Of the 231 MW, PPA for 67 MW was recently implemented. The partnership is the first step in a clear roadmap for the company to minimize its dependence on fossil fuels to power the data center business. At the same time, Sify is investing in solar and wind energy to deliver most of the power required for its flagship data centers in Mumbai.

''In Mumbai, we have data centers in three locations,'' he told reporters.

On the partnership with Vibrant Energy, he said,'' As far as the nature of the 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 Energy would be setting up the facility, designing, constructing, and operating the facility, and making available the power for Sify Technologies for use, he said.

To a query whether the partnership was specific to the data center in Mumbai, Kumar clarified that discussions were on with Vibrant Energy for other data centers.

''We are scheduled to create about 200 MW of capacity of data centers in the next four years. Some projects are underway with construction already having commenced while some are scheduled to commence,'' Kumar said.

According to him, the exposure of Sify to the data center business is spread across six cities with 11 centers. ''We are on track to add another 200 MW capacity in the next four years and spread across multiple cities and beyond,'' he said.

Chairman of Sify Raju Vegesna said, ''With the constantly expanding need for world-class data center facilities to meet the burgeoning data-centric transformation of businesses, we believe that investing in clean energy sources to fuel this transformation is imperative.'' ''Sify is proud to be doing its part to help our customers become a part of this clean energy future'', he said.

CEO of Vibrant Energy Srini Viswanathan said, ''Vibrant is honored to partner with Sify on their journey to build sustainable data center solutions in the market''.

''Vibrant is looking forward to continuing its work with Sify to support them in their 100 percent renewable energy goal,'' he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)