UEA’s Princeton Digital Group & Tata Power Collaborate For RE Supply to Indian Data Centre

UAE-based Mubadala Investment Company has announced a partnership between its investee firms, Princeton Digital Group (PDG) and Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited. This collaboration was meant to utilise green power for a Mumbai-based data center. With this collaboration, eco-friendly electricity will be supplied to the PDG’s flagship data centers in India.

As per the agreement, PDG, a Pan-Asia data center operator, and Tata Power Renewables, an integrated power company in India, have jointly invested in a captive power plant. The plant will supply electricity to PDG’s MU1 data center in Airoli, Mumbai, for 25 years under a renewable Power Consumption Agreement (PCA).

Located in the district Nanded of Maharashtra, the solar plant is scheduled to start generating its first power in June 2023. As phases of the solar plant get completed, additional capacity will be made available. The firm called this agreement a significant step towards PDG’s goal of powering MU1 data center with up to 50 percent renewable energy.

Khaled Abdulla Al Qubaisi, CEO of 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, 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. It allows us to make long-term decisions that foster growth and innovation and solve sustainability.
Our agreement with Tata Power enables us to offer our customers world-class sustainable data center services by substituting a substantial part of conventional energy with renewable energy. This partnership is a testament to PDG’s commitment to work towards achieving Net Zero for our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2030.”

Ashish Khanna, CEO of Tata Power Renewable Energy, said, “Our collaboration with Princeton Digital Group will enable their data center to source fixed-priced clean and renewable energy long-term, which is the most cost-effective way. Data centers are future factories, and we are committed to supplying 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.”

It may be noted that in 2022, in collaboration with BlackRock Real Assets, Mubadala invested $525m in Tata Power Renewables, which aims to contribute 30GW by 2030 and contribute towards India’s renewables’ growth story.

Data centers across the world are power guzzlers which uses heavy power to store valuable data. Many companies are now roping in renewable power to ensure less cost and dependency on grid-based power.