Adani group to invest Rs 70000 crore in Andhra Pradesh

The Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP) on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Adani Group to build Data Centre Parks of up to 5 GW capacities in and around Vishakhapatnam over the next 20 years.

In line with the state government's IT policy and focus on promoting data centers, cloud infrastructure, and allied technology industries as well as renewable energy, the Adani Group will support the development of the digital and energy infrastructure in the state by investing over Rs.70,000 crore over a period of 20 years, which, in turn, is expected to create 100,000 direct and indirect jobs across the state.

The project would be a first-of-its-kind 100 per cent renewable energy powered project in the world. The GoAP and Adani Group will develop the hyper-scale data center market in the state, positioning it as the east coast data center hub for India and South East Asia. It will also be integrated with a cable landing station that will take advantage of the state's long coastline to help provide the needed global connectivity and redundancy that the country needs to manage its exponential growth of data.

The parks will be developed across three different campuses, with each campus offering complementing value and together providing required redundancy and reliability to Data Center operators. The Data Center park will be powered with 100 per cent renewable energy that will be generated within Andhra Pradesh, thereby accelerating the renewable target goals put forward by the state.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu said, "Efficient and eco-friendly Data Centers are the key to enabling this futuristic digital ecosystem. We are very pleased to see that the Adani Group believes in the vision of Andhra Pradesh as one of the most progressive states in India and hence, has decided to partner with the GoAP on this exciting journey."

Adding to Naidu's stance, minister of Informational and Technology Nara Lokesh asserted, "All the next generation technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, analytics, big data, image processing are changing the world around us and driving innovation in every single activity we do. Complimenting the mobile revolution that we are witnessing, India needs data storage, data processing, and data networking. This is precisely why the partnership between the GoAP and Adani Group is critical to lay the foundation of a digital revolution that every citizen and every business can benefit from."

After the signing of the MoU, Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani said, "It is a very proud moment for us to collaborate with GoAP to develop the world's first green data center parks. Data centers are fundamental building blocks for enabling every aspect of the critical technology infrastructure that India needs to further accelerate its growth. In addition, the Adani group's ability to provide 100% renewable power and its experience in energy management is a critical aspect towards lowering the carbon footprint for an industry that is now the world's largest and growing power consuming industry".

The move also marks the Adani Group's foray into the digital infrastructure sector that is now of significant national importance. Critically, it leverages the Adani Group's vast experience in full stack energy management (renewable, baseload, transmission, and distribution) and strong project execution, thereby making it uniquely qualified to deliver a practical 100 per cent renewable data center infrastructure with a world-class PUE.

This network of parks will be flexibly designed to adapt to emerging technology trends in the Data Center industry and will be scaled modularly to meet the customer demands. It will offer a unique energy supply value proposition to its customers. In addition, the data center park will be transformational in enabling an entire ecosystem system of hardware suppliers, software application providers, start-up companies, and telecom ecosystem players thereby catalyzing innovation and creating the multiplier effect leading to tens of thousands of new jobs and generating increased tax collections.