Facebook Signs First Deal to Buy Renewable Energy in India From Local Firm CleanMax

CleanMax will own and operate projects, while Facebook will buy the power off the grid using environmental attribute certificates.

By Reuters | Updated: 15 April 2021 13:46 IST

Facebook Signs First Deal to Buy Renewable Energy in India From Local Firm CleanMax

The 32MW wind power project, located in Karnataka, is part of a larger portfolio of projects by Facebook

Highlights

Facebook typically signs "long-term" electricity purchasing agreements
India is Facebook's biggest market by users
In Singapore, Facebook has announced similar partnerships

Facebook has signed a deal to buy renewable energy in India from a local firm's wind power project, the social media giant's first such deal in the South Asian nation, the companies said on Thursday.

The 32MW wind power project, located in southern Karnataka state, is part of a larger portfolio of wind and solar projects that Facebook and Mumbai-based CleanMax are working together on for supplying renewable power into India's electrical grid, they said in a joint statement.

CleanMax will own and operate the projects, while Facebook will buy the power off the grid using environmental attribute certificates, or carbon credits, the companies said.

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

Facebook's head of renewable energy, Urvi Parekh, told Reuters the company typically doesn't own the power plants but instead signs "long-term" electricity purchasing agreements with the renewable power company.

"That enables the project to seek out the financing that it would need," she said.

India is Facebook's biggest market by users.

In Singapore, Facebook has announced similar partnerships with energy providers Sunseap Group, Terrenus Energy,, and Sembcorp Industries on projects that can produce 160MW of solar power, Parekh said.

Apple to Build Battery-Based Solar Energy Storage Project in California

The electricity generated from these plants will power the tech giant's first Asian data centre that is set to start operations next year, she added.

Data centres driving tech companies like Facebook use up as much as 1 percent of the world's total energy, the International Energy Agency said last year.

Tech companies like Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft have pledged to operate carbon-free and achieve net-zero emissions, as demand for data and digital services is expected to see a sustained rise.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced separately on Thursday that the company's global operations are now supported wholly by renewable energy and that it has reached net-zero emissions.

© Thomson Reuters 2021

Why did LG give up on its smartphone business? We discussed this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Later (starting at 22:00), we talk about the new co-op RPG shooter Outriders. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.