Nxtra to install Fuel Cell Technology in Karnataka data centre

Bharti Airtel announced that its subsidiary Nxtra Data Limited has partnered with Bloom Energy to deploy low environmental impact fuel cell installation at its data centre in Karnataka, India, reducing carbon emissions through a cleaner, hydrogen-ready fuel supply.

Nxtra will be the first data centre company in India to deploy fuel cell technology to reduce carbon emissions at its data centres while unlocking cost and sustainability benefits.

Nxtra plans to start the unit on non-combusted natural gas and then switch to 50% hydrogen in future without any significant investment. The natural gas-powered cells will be used for primary generation with a 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 centres across the country and will invest over Rs 5000 cr over the next four years to expand its capacity by 3X to over 400 MW.

The company has already invested and partnered with 8 organisations to develop renewable energy power plants across India to source more than 180,000 MWh of renewable energy and is committed to achieving 50% of its power requirements through renewable energy sources in the next 12 months.

Mr Rajesh Tapadia, COO, Nxtra by Airtel said, “Our partnership with Bloom Energy is a testament to our future-ready energy strategy to supply much cleaner energy to our data centres.

Tim Schweikert, senior managing director at Bloom Energy, said, “Bloom Energy’s technology is distinctly capable of helping India meet its decarbonisation objectives as it transitions to a hydrogen economy.”