Airtel’s Nxtra To Deploy Fuel Cell Technology At Its Data Centres

Airtel’s data centre company Nxtra is all set to deploy low environmental impact fuel cell installation at its data center in Karnataka. The deployment will allow it to reduce carbon emissions through the cleaner, hydrogen-ready fuel supply.

This initiative by Nxtra will make it the very first data centre company to deploy fuel cell technology to reduce carbon emissions at its data centres.

The company also plans to start its Karnataka unit on non-combusted natural gas and then switch to 50 per cent hydrogen in future. The natural gas-powered cells will be used for primary generation with utility electrical grid and generators as backup sources.

Nxtra by Airtel has the largest network of data centres in India with 12 large and 120 edge data centers across the country. The company also intends to invest over Rs 5,000 crore over the next four years to expand its capacity threefold to over 400 MW.

In a statement, Rajesh Tapadia, COO, Nxtra by Airtel said, “Nxtra is committed to set new benchmarks in sustainability for the data center industry and play a leading role as India emerges as leading data center destination in APAC. With an ambition to reach net zero by 2031, we have embarked on our sustainability journey by making all possible efforts to adopt innovative energy solutions. Our partnership with Bloom Energy is a testament to our future-ready energy strategy to supply much cleaner energy to our data centers.

Nxtra has already invested and partnered with eight organisations to develop renewable energy power plants across India to source more than 1,80,000 MWh of renewable energy. It aims to achieve 50 per cent of its power requirements through renewable energy sources in the next 12 months.