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Adani’s Rs 70,000 crore plan to build solar-powered data centre parks in Andhra Pradesh in limbo

The Adani Group had signed an MoU with the AP government in January with a committed investment of Rs 70,000 crore for the next 20 years. Under this MoU, the company had planned to set up three green data centres and a 5 GW solar park.

Adani, solar powered data centre, Andhra Pradesh, solar park, Adani group, Adani share price
Dismissing rumours that the company is going to shelve the project and move to another state, an Adani Group spokesperson clarified that “the firm has no such plans”.

The proposed Rs 70,000-crore plan of the Adani Group for building up to 5 GW solar-powered data centre parks in Visakhapatnam is in limbo. The Andhra Pradesh government has asked for a revised proposal from the company, including new locations and the investment to be made at different phases.

The Adani Group had signed an MoU with the AP government in January with a committed investment of Rs 70,000 crore for the next 20 years. Under this MoU, the company had planned to set up three green data centres and a 5 GW solar park.

“As per the detailed project report (DPR), the company said it would provide over one lakh both direct and indirect jobs at the data centre park in Vizag in a phased manner. However, the government decided to review this project which was demanding more than 500 acres on a prime location in Vizag city. Hence, the state government has decided to offer an alternative location in surrounding and backward areas which would provide employment for the locals as well,” a senior industries department official told FE.

“We have asked the Adani Group for an alternative proposal which will specify the timeline for the project to commence and subsequent investments at different phases,” the official said, adding that the company is yet to come with an alternate proposal.

Dismissing rumours that the company is going to shelve the project and move to another state, an Adani Group spokesperson clarified that “the firm has no such plans”.

The data centre parks of up to 5 GW capacities in and around Visakhapatnam over the next 20 years are claimed to be a first-of-its-kind 100% renewable energy powered project in the world. 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 Adani Group had earlier said the move marks the company’s foray into the digital infrastructure sector. Critically, it leverages the group’s experience in full stack energy management (renewable, base load, transmission, and distribution) and strong project execution, thereby making it uniquely qualified to deliver a practical 100% renewable data centre infrastructure.

In addition, the data centre parks will be transformational in enabling an entire ecosystem of hardware suppliers, software application providers, start-up companies and telecom ecosystem players, thereby catalysing innovation and creating the multiplier effect leading to tens of thousands of new jobs and generating increased tax collections.

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First published on: 20-08-2019 at 07:35 IST
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