Bharti Airtel signed agreements to acquire stakes in two local renewable energy companies to secure purchases of 23,000MWh of green energy by end-March 2024 to power six edge data centre facilities.

The operator stated the latest agreements mean its total contracted renewable energy capacity for its data centre unit Nxtra will exceed 274,000MWh.

Airtel explained the energy purchases will be made through an open access route, with the operator acquiring a stake in Continuum Green India, which will supply solar and wind power to Nxtra’s edge data centres in Madhya Pradesh.

It agreed a similar stake purchase with Vibrant Energy for the supply of solar power to a facility in Vijaywada.

Nxtra CEO Ashish Arora said it believes India’s advancement will be “mirrored by its data centre industry growth” in the coming years.

The company is “committed to reduce our carbon footprint and lead the green data centre revolution”, he added, citing a goal of reaching net-zero in 2031.

Nxtra operates 12 data centres and 120 edge facilities across India.

It also committed to reducing direct (Scope 1) and indirect emissions (Scope 2) greenhouse gas emissions across its operations by 100 per cent by 2031.

Nxtra previously struck deals to source more than 180,000MWh of renewable energy.