Pranav Hotkar
Mumbai, India - April 1, 2026 - CleanMax and STT GDC India have expanded their renewable energy partnership beyond 130 megawatts (MW), strengthening efforts to power AI-ready data centre infrastructure in India with hybrid clean energy solutions.
The latest agreement includes an additional 21 megawatt-peak (MWp) solar capacity to support STT GDC India’s facilities in Chennai. This builds on existing wind-solar hybrid projects and takes the total contracted renewable energy capacity across key data centre hubs in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra to over 130 MW.
The collaboration is structured through long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs), with STT GDC India also committing a 26% equity stake in the renewable energy project. This approach reflects a growing shift toward integrated energy ownership models that offer greater control over power sourcing and long-term cost stability.
The companies said the hybrid renewable model, combining solar and wind generation, is designed to ensure reliable, round-the-clock power, an essential requirement as artificial intelligence workloads drive continuous, high-density data centre operations.
Kuldeep Jain, Managing Director of CleanMax, emphasized the importance of sustainable energy in digital infrastructure, stating that the future of data centres will depend not only on capacity but also on how they are powered.
Bimal Khandelwal, Chief Executive Officer of STT GDC India, noted that the expanded partnership strengthens the company’s ability to secure renewable energy at scale to support increasing AI-driven demand.
STT GDC India is targeting carbon neutrality by 2030, with renewable energy already accounting for a significant share of its power consumption. The partnership with CleanMax is expected to play a critical role in advancing these sustainability goals while maintaining operational resilience.
For CleanMax, the data centre segment has become a key growth driver, representing a substantial portion of its overall contracted renewable energy portfolio. The company continues to scale its presence in supplying clean energy to digital infrastructure projects.
Industry observers note that such partnerships highlight a broader shift in the data centre sector, where energy sourcing is becoming a central component of infrastructure strategy, driven by the rising power demands of AI and always-on digital services.
The expanded agreement underscores the growing integration of renewable energy into data centre ecosystems, as operators look to balance scalability, performance, and sustainability in the next phase of digital growth.
