Avaada commissions 21 MW captive solar plant for Airtel

The solar plant, located in Maharashtra, uses 65,000 PV panels covering an area of 80 acres. It will supply clean energy to telecom operator Airtel’s Nxtra data centers and switching centers in the State.

January 25, 2022 Uma Gupta

Image: Encavis AG

Bharti Airtel has announced the commissioning of a 21 MW solar power plant for self-consumption in the Buldana district of Maharashtra as part of its commitment to reduce its carbon footprint.

The telecom operator partnered with independent power producer Avaada to build the captive power plant, which uses 65,000 PV panels covering an area of 80 acres.

The plant will supply clean energy to Airtel’s Nxtra data centers and switching centers in Maharashtra. It is expected to generate 32 million units of electricity per year, helping Nxtra offset 25,517 tonnes of carbon emissions annually, which is equivalent to carbon offsetting by 1,275,842 trees annually.

Rajesh Tapadia, CEO, Nxtra by Airtel (Airtel’s data center arm), said, “This is yet another step towards fulfilling our commitment to source more than 50% power requirements of our data centers through renewable energy sources in the next 12 months and contribute to Airtel’s overall GHG emission reduction targets.”

Nxtra by Airtel has already commissioned two captive solar power units of 14 MW each in Uttar Pradesh as part of its focus on green energy sources to power its growing operations.

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.