Power infrastructure giant Techno Electric and Engineering Company (TEECL) plans to invest US$1 billion (about Rs 73.1 billion) to build data centers in major cities in India.

The Kolkata-based public company has completed more than 400 engineering procurement and construction (EPC) projects and is seeking to develop a data center backed by green energy. "We will use our renewable energy assets across the country to ensure that these data center projects are 100% powered by renewable energy and remain carbon neutral. To this goal, we have finalized the development of 250MW data centers across India in the next five years. Plan." said Ankit Saraiya, full-time supervisor of TEECL.

The company's goal is to build data centers in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Hyderabad, Pune, the National Capital Region (NCR), Chennai and Kolkata. For the first project to be launched in Chennai, the company has secured a four-acre plot of land from the SIPCOT IT Park in Siruseri, a southern suburb of the city, from the government of Tamil Nadu. The company is investing about 1200 crore rupees to develop this data center with a total load capacity of 45-60MW, and preliminary on-site activities for the development have already begun.

The second project in Kolkata will also be almost the same scale as the Chennai data center, covering nearly 5 acres and investing approximately Rs 12 billion. "The data center projects in Chennai and Kolkata will each account for approximately US$340 million, accounting for one-third of the planned total investment of US$1 billion." Saraiya said. "We are a debt-free company with a cash reserve of over 8 billion rupees. We generate approximately 200-250 crore revenue from the EPC business year-on-year. We have sufficient internal funds to build these projects.”

Achieve carbon neutrality goals

The company may choose a leveraged debt equity composition of 60-40 and is also willing to divest the equity of these projects. The Chennai project will be 100% carbon neutral because the company has 111 megawatts of wind energy assets in Tamil Nadu, which will be used to fuel the data centers there. The company also acquired two 10-megawatt biomass power plants in Kolkata. These power plants will power data centers in eastern cities and will also be 100% renewable energy.

TEECL's third data center in Hyderabad will be developed on a larger land than Chennai and Kolkata. It may be as high as 50 megawatts and will be powered entirely by the company's own solar infrastructure in Hyderabad. The company's fourth project will be in Navi Mumbai, Pune or Noida. It has hired a consultant to research and investigate these markets.

"In addition to renewable energy, we will ensure that a quarter of the land is reserved for green space. We hope to plant trees and develop parks there to ensure that it is more environmentally friendly. We will try to introduce disruptive technologies in the field of power infrastructure to ensure Power consumption is as efficient as possible," Saraiya said. Data centers in India are becoming the most attractive growth opportunities for global institutional investors and leading developers. Investment is flowing into the data center market, creating multiple new markets at the same time, and the rapid development of the scale of parks in the world's most mature cities.

Cushman & Wakefield's data shows that so far, it has planned and committed to invest USD 13.5 billion in the development of data centers in the country, and overseas companies have contributed more than 70% in this regard. The world's leading entities, including STTelemedia, ESR, NTT, Colt and Princeton Digital Group, Brookfield Asset Management and Digital Realty have begun to invest in this area.

Keywords: overseas engineering, international engineering construction, foreign engineering construction news

In recent years, India has undergone a major digital transformation. In 2019, the number of active Internet users reached 525 million, an annual growth rate of over 19%. Low-cost smart phones and low data tariffs have accelerated the transition to digitalization. Between 2014 and 2018, data consumption increased by 37 times. With a population of more than 1.3 billion, India is expected to consume 18GB of data per user by 2024. India represents a major market opportunity, second only to the United States and the United Kingdom.Editor/XuNing