Nxtra, Bloom Energy join hands to reduce carbon emissions through fuel cell technology

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

This will make Nxtra the first data centre company in India to deploy fuel cell technology to reduce carbon emissions at its data centres, the company said in a statement on Monday.  

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 utility electrical grid and generators as backup sources, the company said. 

Rajesh Tapadia, COO, Nxtra by said, “With an ambition to reach net zero by 2031, we have embarked on our sustainability journey by making all possible efforts to adopt innovative energy solutions. 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, international business development, Bloom Energy said, “We are proud to collaborate with Nxtra to support them in their pursuit of using clean, reliable and affordable power for their data centres.” 

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 ₹5,000 crore over the next four years to expand its capacity by 3X to over 400 MW. The company has already invested and partnered with eight 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.