Kolkata-based power infrastructure firm Techno Electric & Engineering Company Ltd (TEECL) is looking to build 250 MW data centres across the country in the next five years. Plans are also afoot to extend its footprint in the data centre business to the APAC region.

The company, which clocked a turnover of around ₹890 crore in FY21, currently provides end-to-end solutions to customers across the electricity value chain through EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) vertical, asset ownership and operations and maintenance services.

Increasing demand for digital connectivity spurs growth of data centres

TEECL has established a “detailed roadmap” for its data centre business leveraging on its EPC capabilities. It has already commenced the process of setting up its first IT load data centre of 30 MW in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, for an estimated investment of around ₹900 crore. This is expected to be commissioned in FY 2022-23.

It is also looking to set up 20 MW edge data centre in Kolkata by FY23. This apart, it is planning a data centre at Hyderabad by FY24 and another one at Navi Mumbai by FY25, the company said in its latest annual report.

Powered by wind energy

“During the year under review, we forayed into the data centre industry with a vision to contribute significantly to India’s emerging data centre industry. As one of the world’s largest data subscriber populations continue to adapt to a new digital life, India’s data centre demand is expected to grow exponentially. We intend to contribute to this industry through multiple ultra-scalable, hyper-density data centres,” the company said in the report.

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The data centre in Chennai would be powered by captive wind energy source of 111.9 MW at Tamil Nadu. It would operate the non-IT portion of data centres by leveraging its experience of operating and maintaining other large infrastructure assets. It also plans to utilise cable landing station, which is under development by the Tamil Nadu government, for providing subsea broadband connectivity links with European and Asian markets (APAC Region). This apart, it plans to obtain certifications for data centres at Tier 3 and Tier 4 towns.

Data centres are essential to drive India’s digital advancement. The country is estimated to be heading towards a data centre capacity of 1 GW by 2025, with an industry revenue pegged at around $4-5 billion. The company, backed by its experience in MEP (mechanical, electrical in power sector), is looking to capitalise on the emerging opportunities in the sector.

Digital opportunities

Following the pandemic, the country has witnessed a growth of over 30 per cent in internet usage consumption. Sectors such as banking, retail, e-commerce, manufacturing, and professional services, which are already the leading revenue contributors to the country’s server market, are expected to further boost the demand for increased access to internet-related services.

India has one of the youngest tech-savvy populations in the world. The deployment of 5G network is also likely to boost the digital economy and enhance the demand for high-bandwidth networking infrastructure.

Besides, government initiatives such as Digital India are expected to transform the country into a digital knowledge economy, the company said, highlighting the opportunities in the sector.

“India as a data centre market is booming. Investments are flowing in and are expected to reach $8 billion by 2026. The pandemic tremendously accelerated data consumption and as our reliance on digital technology grows in the post-Covid world, adoption of smart devices increases, the hunger for seamless cloud connectivity grows, there will be a surge in data storage and processing requirements together with the need for data security,” the report said.

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