MC EXCLUSIVE Andhra Pradesh banks on cheap renewable energy and river-linking to power data centre push: Nara Lokesh

Andhra Pradesh IT, Electronics and HRD Minister Nara Lokesh

While Andhra Pradesh is leveraging cheap renewable energy and surplus Godavari water through river-linking projects to keep costs low, managing power and water efficiently will be critical to maintaining competitiveness. State IT, Electronics and HRD Minister Nara Lokesh noted that other countries, such as Ireland, have imposed moratoriums on new data centres due to resource pressures, but India should build a separate renewable-based grid for the sector instead of restricting growth.

Highlighting Andhra Pradesh’s strategy to manage power demand, Lokesh told Moneycontrol in an interview that the state is leveraging low-cost renewable energy as a competitive advantage. “If you look at it as a state, we believe low cost of energy can be a competitive advantage. So if you look at it, we've promoted renewable energies at a big scale. At a gigawatt scale, we've signed with Tatas, we've signed with Renew. GreenCo is a homegrown company and it's not just about solar and wind. We are also doing PSP pump storage projects. We are implementing battery energy storage systems, and there's always going to be a base load that has to come from thermal power,” he said.

The state is also running tenders to secure thermal power at the lowest possible rates. “With this proper mix and being efficient in the way we approach this challenge, we were able to reduce power prices by 13 percent, across the entire state. And if I'm correct, we're one of the very few states, or perhaps the only state, who has achieved this,” he added.

Harnessing Godavari waters

Lokesh emphasised that water security is another key pillar of the state’s strategy. “We have Godavari, which has surplus water, and we are doing a massive project to bring Godavari waters all the way to South Andhra. So from North Andhra all the way down to South Andhra. And it's called the interlinking of rivers, as we've always said, it's been a dream for India. No one has been able to achieve it till now, but Mr. Naidu is leading that project from the front,” he said.

Data centres

While several countries have curbed new data centre developments due to resource constraints, Lokesh argued that India should take a different approach. “I believe that India should not do it, and India should split the grid into two, if I may suggest, and say, alright, data centres, this is the way we are going to do it, and this is the kind of energy that we're going to use for it from renewable sources,” he said.

“So Andhra is perfect in that sense. We have wind energy, we have solar, we have the pump storage projects that are coming up. A bit of thermal in the mix as well,” Lokesh added.