Carbon-free data centres to drive green jobs and local manufacturing: Minister Shripad Naik
At India’s first Carbon-Free Data Centre Summit, the government and industry leaders highlight convergence of digital growth with renewable energy, opening new avenues for jobs, skills, and indigenous innovation.
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Carbon-free data centres can emerge as a dual engine of India’s growth- creating green jobs while strengthening local manufacturing of renewable energy and storage systems, Union Minister of State for Power and New & Renewable Energy, Shripad Yesso Naik, said on September 25.
Speaking at the inaugural Carbon-Free Data Centre Summit in New Delhi, organised by the National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI) in collaboration with Amazon, Naik, as per a PTI report, stressed that the nation’s digital and clean energy revolutions must now converge. “India’s energy transition is not just about megawatts and gigawatts. It is about jobs, skills, and innovation,” he said.
According to NSEFI, carbon-free data centres rely entirely on renewable sources such as solar, wind, and energy storage to power their operations. Highlighting innovative sourcing models, Deepak Gupta, Director General of NSEFI, said data centres could directly procure solar power from farmers’ fields or tap into decentralised agrivoltaic projects to secure green attributes.
NSEFI, an umbrella body representing renewable energy developers, manufacturers, and EPC contractors, noted that the shift toward carbon-neutral digital infrastructure will unlock new business models at the intersection of energy and technology.
The summit brought together senior policymakers, renewable energy experts, and leaders from the data centre industry to deliberate on India’s roadmap for sustainable, carbon-free digital infrastructure.
The push for carbon-free data centres also comes at a time when such facilities are facing global scrutiny over their environmental and health impacts. Traditional data centres are energy-intensive, generate significant heat, and contribute to higher emissions, raising concerns about air quality and public health in surrounding communities.
