Princeton Digital Group, Tata Power join forces for renewable energy supply to Indian data centre

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Mubadala Investment Company has announced a collaboration between its investee firms, Princeton Digital Group (PDG), and Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited.

The partnership aims to provide eco-friendly electricity to one of PDG’s data centres in India. According to the agreement, PDG, an operator of data centres across Asia and Tata Power Renewables, an integrated power company in India, have jointly invested in a captive power plant.

This plant will be responsible for supplying electricity to PDG’s MU1 data centre in Airoli, Mumbai, for a period of 25 years under a renewable Power Consumption Agreement (PCA).

The solar plant, situated in the Nanded district of Maharashtra, India, is scheduled to commence generating power in June 2023.

As future phases of the solar plant are completed, additional capacity will be made available. The initiative is a significant step towards PDG’s goal of powering MU1 data centre with up to 50 per cent renewable energy.

Khaled Abdulla Al Qubaisi, chief executive officer – Real Estate and Infrastructure Investments at Mubadala, said: “Mubadala is delighted about the partnership between two of our investee companies, PDG and Tata Power Renewables.

Both companies align with our focus on value creation and delivering positive outcomes for society, and our view that digitalization is vital to socioeconomic progress and development.

By bringing our partners together, we are further supporting the build of sustainable solutions in India, a key strategic partner and market for Mubadala.”

Vipin Shirsat, general manager – India, Princeton Digital Group, added: “Cloud and digital adoption continue to surge in India leading to unprecedented growth in digital infrastructure. This gives us an opportunity to make long term decisions that not only fosters growth and innovation but also solves sustainability.

Our agreement with Tata Power enables us to offer world class sustainable data center services to our customers by substituting a substantial part of conventional energy with renewable energy. This partnership is testament to PDG’s commitment to work towards achieving Net Zero for our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2030.”

Ashish Khanna, CEO, Tata Power Renewable Energy said: “Our collaboration with Princeton Digital Group will enable their data centre to source fixed-priced clean and renewable energy on long term basis which is the most cost-effective way.

Data centres are factories of the future and we are committed to supply them with green energy. Tata Power Renewable Energy offers a comprehensive portfolio of renewable energy solutions and, through our expertise in the domain, we shall continue to contribute towards India’s Net-Zero target.”

In 2022, Mubadala invested $350m in PDG, which has a portfolio of 21 data centres with a capacity of more than 700MW spanning six countries.

In the same year, together with BlackRock Real Assets, Mubadala invested $525m in Tata Power Renewables, which is at the forefront of India’s energy transition and aims to contribute 30GW by 2030, a significant step towards achieving the nation’s sustainable energy goals.

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