Facebook has reportedly signed a deal to purchase renewable energy in India from the wind power project of a local firm. This will be the social media giant’s first such deal in the nation, as said by the companies on Thursday.
The wind power project, located in south Karnataka, generates over 32 MW power. It is part of a larger project portfolio of solar and wind power plants that Mumbai-based company CleanMax and Facebook are collaborating on for providing renewable power into Indian electrical grid, the companies said in a joint statement.
They further added that CleanMax will operate as well as own these projects, while the social media giant will purchase off the grid power with the help of carbon credits or environmental attribute certificates.
Urvi Parekh, Head of Renewable Energy at Facebook, apparently stated that the company usually does not involve itself in owning power plants but rather signs long-term electricity purchase agreements with companies dealing with renewable energy. She said that this allows the project to get the financial assistance it needs.
Facebook has announced similar deals in Singapore with energy suppliers Terrenus Energy, Sembcorp Industries and Sunseap Group on projects that can possibly produce over 160 MW of solar power, she added.
She further said that Facebook will use the electricity generated from these plants in powering their first data center in Asia that is scheduled to initiate operations in 2022.
As per the International Energy Agency in 2020, tech companies like Facebook are driven by data centers who consume over 1 percent of the global energy.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, separately declared that the global operations of the company are now completely supported by renewable energy and that they have reached the mark of net-zero emissions.
Other tech giants such as Microsoft and Amazon have promised to achieve net-zero emissions by operating carbon-free with demands for digital and data-based services predicted to witness a sustained rise.
Source Credits: