CtrlS Goes Solar with Waaree; Builds World’s 1st Solar-Powered Rated-4 Datacenter

Asia's Largest Rated-4 Hyperscale Datacenter CtrlS Datacenters Ltd has deployed building integrated vertical solar photovoltaic (PV) system from Waaree, a leading PV module maker, at its Mumbai facility.

Under this project, Waaree, which is having 2 GW of module manufacturing capacity, has installed building integrated solar panels on all 4 walls of the facility, covering more than 5,000 sq m of facade area. On the other hand, U-Solar Clean Energy has provided engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for the project.

Further, the installed solar plant is having a capacity of about 1 MW, and is expected to help in reducing CO2 emissions equivalent to almost 7,000 trees per year.

Commenting on the development, Sridhar Pinnapureddy, Founder and CEO, CtrlS Datacenters Ltd, said that, “the combustion of fossil fuels has led to dramatic rise in carbon dioxide emissions globally, and it is my belief that as a responsible business it is prudent to embrace clean energy. We are delighted to have partnered with WAAREE to take a major step in deployment of solar energy at our Mumbai Rated-4 Hyperscale datacenter.”

He further added “we chose to install the solar panels on all the four sides of the building instead of roof top solar as it provides large space for absorption of sunlight. We therefore replaced the conventional glass in our data center facility, with solar panels thereby generate higher power through clean energy and thereby reducing carbon footprint. Besides, the Waaree BIPV panels act as a thermal insulation by blocking the sun and thus also reducing the power consumption of the air conditioning system, thus saving on electricity bills considerably.”

Each Waaree BIPV solar panel was installed with power optimizers to increase energy output from PV systems by constantly tracking the maximum power point (MPPT) of each module individually, having capability to monitor performance of each module.

“We are happy to be part of such an innovative BIPV project and we are thankful to CtrlS for not only giving us opportunity but implementing such great idea and making India's first largest BIPV project. Waaree BIPV technology can be adapted to any building that requires a glass facade, including but not limited to skyscrapers, malls, apartments, modern homes, datacentres and many more existing Buildings, or the ones that are in design stage. The challenge of not only the space to mount Solar Panels is addressed by Waaree BIPV solutions but also the aesthetics and beauty of building is enhanced by replacing normal glass to solar panels. Waaree will continue to design and develop products to increase use of solar energy,” said Dr. Hitesh Doshi, CMD WAAREE Energies Ltd.