National Solar Energy Federation of India’s (NSEFI) Green Data Centre Coalition, held its inception meeting in the national capital with key industry representatives to chalk out the future of Decarbonizing Data Centre Operations in India. The coalition, under the aegis of NSEFI, will be a dedicated platform for accelerating the greening of Data Centres and create a sustainable ecosystem for them in their journey towards decarbonization in India.
The Coalition is Jointly Chaired by Vikram Sridharan, Director, Infrastructure and Public Policy, Asia Pacific and Japan at AWS and Sharad Agarwal, CEO, Sify Infinit Spaces Limited. In its inception meeting, the Coalition Members discussed the Road Map for leveraging India’s abundant RE potential to support the growth of Data Centre Industry. The Coalition will soon be coming out with specific recommendations to be submitted to key Central Government Ministries. The Coalition, will also be convening meetings with States that have active Data Centre promotion policies.
Vikram Sridharan, Director Infrastructure and Public Policy, Asia Pacific and Japan at AWS says “India’s energy demand is growing due to our increased utilization of advanced technology—from electric vehicles and smart appliances, to banking online and AI. Amazon is committed to providing the essential services and goods our customers demand, while also working to power our operations more sustainably to meet our Climate Pledge commitment to become net-zero carbon by 2040. To support the decarbonization of our operations and contribute to India’s energy transition, we have invested millions of dollars into renewable energy in the country. The Green Data Centre Coalition will be an important avenue for the data Centre industry in India to come together to realize a more sustainable digital future for India.
Sharad Agarwal, CEO, Sify Infinit Spaces, “India is looking at least a decade long upward growth of capacity across all forms of data Centre. A parallel demand would be power that is expected to more than double from the current 1.3% consumption by data Centres to around 4% with the advent of AI dependent workloads. With this peer group having a ringside view to demand, we thought it best to evangelize beforehand the criticality of renewables, the need to build scale within the country and the different streams with the different stakeholders”.
Deepak Gupta, IAS (Retd), Hon Director General – NSEFI, Ex – Secretary MNRE and former Chairman, UPSC said, “The Green Data Centre Coalition is a transformative step towards aligning India’s rapidly expanding digital economy with its renewable energy ambitions. As data demands soar, it is imperative that sustainability remains at the core of this expansion. NSEFI is committed to fostering industry collaboration, shaping policies, and enabling innovative solutions for a cleaner, more resilient digital future.”
The Coalition, launched during the 1st AI in RE Summit organized by NSEFI aims to evolve as a single largest platform for all aspects around decarbonization of Data Centres comprising of key stakeholders from both the sectors. The Coalition will also be working with Industry to Design and Promote Innovative Renewable Energy Instruments that can support the requirement of Data Centres along with innovative energy efficiency and sustainable cooling solutions.