In perhaps the first venture of its kind in the Indian domestic IT sector, ValueLabs has installed and commissioned 13 MW of solar power to emerge self-reliant in its power demands.

The Hyderabad-based, IT product development, services and consulting company has invested close to Rs 100 crore in this initiative. It has established solar power plants in two locations. The first is a 5 MW unit in Kadiri in Anantapur district, now in Andhra Pradesh. The second is 8 MW in Mahbubnagar district of Telangana State .

“The idea to go for self-reliance in power came to us around four years ago, when the United Andhra Pradesh Government declared a power holiday for industries. The Hyderabad Software Association had circulated a note on this and IT firms were discussing ways to bridge the gap,” said Arjun Rao, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of ValueLabs.

"Achieving self-reliance in whatever we do has been our motto. Hence, we decided to go for solar energy to tide over this challenge. The entire engineering, procurement and construction for the power plants was executed by our engineers and staff on private land we bought," Rao told Business Line . Phase-1 was commissioned in March 2013 and the second was completed a year later.

The estimated power generated from these plants will be 1.8 million kWh per month. This is expected to meet all the energy needs of the company, including its planned growth over the next three years. “In fact we will have the luxury of selling some power to the distribution companies as well,” he said.

Through this captive power, energy costs in office space, power supply and disaster recovery planning can be achieved. In addition, reliable and efficient services can be provided to global customers. ValueLabs has over 3,200 employees across the globe and 150 global clients.

IT major Infosys had some time ago announced plans to install solar power plants to meet its energy needs.

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