Carbon-free data centres to create jobs, boost green energy: Minister

'Carbon-free' data centres will not only create jobs but also boost indigenous manufacturing of renewable energy and storage systems, Union Minister Shripad Yesso Naik has said.

The Minister of State for Power and New & Renewable Energy made the remarks while inaugurating the First Data Centre Summit on Carbon-Free energy in the national capital on Thursday.

"Every new carbon-free data centre built in India will create green jobs, boost indigenous manufacturing of renewable and storage systems, and generate new business models for digitalenergy convergence," Naik said at the event organised by industry body National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI) in partnership with Amazon.

The minister said the digital and the clean energy revolution in the country must now converge. India strongly believes that energy transition is not only about megawatts and gigawatts. It is about jobs, skills, and innovation.

As per NSEFI, carbon-free data centres are those that are powered by or use renewable energy generation sources like solar, wind and energy storage to meet all their energy requirements.

Deepak Gupta, Director General, NSEFI, mentioned that data centres can procure solar power directly from farmers' fields or get green attributes through decentralised agrivoltaic projects.

NSEFI is an umbrella organisation representing Renewable Energy (RE) companies that are active along the whole RE value chain, comprising leading international, national, and regional companies, including developers, manufacturers, EPC contractors, among others.

The event was attended by senior policymakers, renewable energy leaders, and data centre industry captains to chart the course for India's sustainable and carbon-neutral digital infrastructure.