Infosys, the software industry poster child is about to embark on generating its own power, in the process saving costs, getting clean reliable power for its operations and fulfilling its broader obligations to society.
Infosys has proposed a 50-MW solar park in Karnataka, becoming the first software company in India
to think of generating its own power that will meet a bulk of the electricity needs of its offices in Bangalore, Mysore and Mangalore.
Karnataka’s energy minister DK Shivakumar said that Infosys had held one round of talks with the state government in which it had expressed keenness to build the solar power facility. “The company will buy land on its own,” he said.
Infosys confirmed the intent and said it will submit a formal proposal to the government once they finalise the land. “We hope to commission the park in about a year,” said Infosys executive vice-president Ramadas Kamath said.
Asked why Infosys is entering captive generation, he said that his company wanted to be self-sufficient in energy. “We want to promote use of clean energy and reduce carbon emission. Solar is the best option. Several parts of Karnataka have good solar intensity.We now have solar technologies wherein you recover your investment in eight years. It has less of maintenance hassle, and easy to build,” said Kamath, who heads facilities, administration, security and sustainability at Infosys.
Kamath said the idea to build a solar park had been mooted a year ago by Infosys’ head of green initiative Rohan Parekh, and had won the support of the company’s board of directors. “Narayana Murthy and the board have been very keen that we do this,” Kamath said.
The company has already started looking for some 300 acres of land in regions of Karnataka where solar intensity is high. The company expects project cost, including land, to be about Rs.360-380 crore, small change for a company that is sitting on a cash pile of Rs.30,000 crore. Infosys estimates that it would require about five acres of land to generate 1 MW of solar power and excluding land costs, each MW of capacity will require it to shell out around Rs.6.5 crore.
Infosys has proposed a 50-MW solar park in Karnataka, becoming the first software company in India
to think of generating its own power that will meet a bulk of the electricity needs of its offices in Bangalore, Mysore and Mangalore.
Karnataka’s energy minister DK Shivakumar said that Infosys had held one round of talks with the state government in which it had expressed keenness to build the solar power facility. “The company will buy land on its own,” he said.
Infosys confirmed the intent and said it will submit a formal proposal to the government once they finalise the land. “We hope to commission the park in about a year,” said Infosys executive vice-president Ramadas Kamath said.
Asked why Infosys is entering captive generation, he said that his company wanted to be self-sufficient in energy. “We want to promote use of clean energy and reduce carbon emission. Solar is the best option. Several parts of Karnataka have good solar intensity.We now have solar technologies wherein you recover your investment in eight years. It has less of maintenance hassle, and easy to build,” said Kamath, who heads facilities, administration, security and sustainability at Infosys.
Kamath said the idea to build a solar park had been mooted a year ago by Infosys’ head of green initiative Rohan Parekh, and had won the support of the company’s board of directors. “Narayana Murthy and the board have been very keen that we do this,” Kamath said.
The company has already started looking for some 300 acres of land in regions of Karnataka where solar intensity is high. The company expects project cost, including land, to be about Rs.360-380 crore, small change for a company that is sitting on a cash pile of Rs.30,000 crore. Infosys estimates that it would require about five acres of land to generate 1 MW of solar power and excluding land costs, each MW of capacity will require it to shell out around Rs.6.5 crore.
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