MUMBAI: IT infrastructure provider, Netmagic is set to work on India’s largest captive solar power plant to meet the increasing power demand for its data centres in Mumbai.
Netmagic, a division of Japan’s NTT Communications, has one of the largest data centre in the country wherein it hosts servers of large banks, ecommerce and internet companies, and MNCs. The company’s current power usage in Mumbai alone is over 20MW.
“We are looking at the feasibility of setting up solar power plants in Maharashtra through one of our partners. First, renewable energy is good for the environment. Second, even though there is more capex involved, solar energy will help us lower our cost of operations. Government has given some benefits such as duty waiver which we want to leverage,” Netmagic MD and CEO Sharad Sanghi, told BusinessLine.
“The solar plant we’re looking to build will be around 100 MW. We are trying to understand the regulations and ensure that we are qualified for the government incentives.,” Sanghi added.
According to a report from CBRE, Mumbai with 35 data centre operators has become the leading location for business “Cable landing stations or submarine cables are vital international telecommunication links between countries , making them an essential element in telecommunication services including broadband connectivity. Mumbai, presently, has four of the ten cable landing stations in the country,” the report said.
Mumbai has the best power availability in the country as compared to any other city in the world, Sanghi said.
Netmagic last year announced a ₹1,200 crore investment to double its data centre capacity in India. However, a large part of the investment is already done and the company is working on further increasing its data centre capacity.
The company has been using renewable sources of energy, including wind and solar power in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai through open access. Sanghi said that the company is in talks with potential partners to setup the solar power plant, and is also aiming to build wind power capacity in the State to augment it.
“There are different parts in Maharashtra that has good wind. We will augment the solar power with wind power so that we can use wind power at night and solar during the day,” said Sanghi.
Source: thehindubusinessline
