Infosys pitches for uniform power code

IT major Infosys has made a case for a uniform power code in the country and wants banking and wheeling of captive renewable energy to be allowed.

Infosys is the first Indian company to join RE 100, a global platform for major companies committed to 100 per cednt renewable power. As per a declaration at the United Nations in 2008, by 2018, it aims to cut per capita electricity and water consumption by half, treat all its organic waste, go 100 per cent to renewable energy and become completely carbon neutral.

The company has rolled out a plan to spend $65 million (approximately ₹420 crore) to explore carbon offset projects to meet these commitments.

“We need a unified power code and power highways; though the (Central) government has set a target for one lakh MW of solar power, each State has its own regulations and there is no way excess power can travel across States,” U Ramadas Kamat EVP and head infrastructure, security and sustainability, said.

“The problem lies with the distribution that is still with the State,” he said, adding that banking and wheeling of captive power should be allowed as long as the use was made during the financial year. “We want to use the power during the day,” he said.

According to Kamat, Karnataka was the most progressive State on the RE policy count, and though the current policy in Maharashtra was complicated, the concerns were addressed in the new draft document.

At the end of the fiscal 15, Infosys campuses cut per capita consumption of electricity by 46 per cent, and used 74.98 million units of green power which adds up to a little over 29 per cent of the overall electricity requirements. In the current fiscal, the target is to meet 40 per cent of its electricity requirements through renewable energy sources.

Amongst the measures the company is adopting to cut emissions is distribution of free cooking stoves that use a specific coal that emits lower carbon. “The project has to be approved by the UN, and has strict parameters of implementation, reporting and third party audit and a limited number of projects have been nominated in India,” he added.

“We have spent ₹20 crore so far and next year will scale up,” Kamat said.

Outlining some of the green measures at the Infosys Pune campus at Hinjewadi, which houses the largest number of employees at a single location, Kamat said the BPO 2 building with 24-hour operations uses chilled beams system for cooling instead of conventional air conditioning. It has an energy performance index of 99 kwh/m2/year, and is the best in the industry.

Two of the newest software development blocks also form the largest HVAC experiment in the world, comparing two different cooling technologies for identical building characteristics and footprint. One uses chilled beams technology while the other uses radiant cooling technology.

Over the next 18-24 months, Infosys is building new campuses at Nagpur (on 142 acres), Mohali Indore, Hubli and Noida in addition to three new campuses in Bengaluru. Each campus building will be around five lakh sq ft in size and while the company plans to begin on a small scale in each new location, the total headcount capacity will go up by a total of 50,000 thanks to all these additions.

While Kamat did not share the total investment figure, the financial outlay works out to ₹3,500 per square foot plus 50,000 as technology costs per head.

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