Maharashtra govt, Lodha Developers sign ₹30,000-crore MoU to set up green data centre park near Mumbai

Lodha Developers said that the green integrated data centre park will be developed at Lodha Palava City with an investment of ₹30,000 crore

The Maharashtra government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Lodha Developers to establish a 370-acre Green Integrated Data Centre Park in Palava City, Dombivli, near Mumbai. The proposed investment is ₹30,000 crore.

The Maharashtra government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Lodha Developers to establish a 370-acre Green Integrated Data Centre Park in Palava City. (Lodha Developers)

As per a company statement, the project will be developed in Ambernath, Thane district, and is expected to create 6,000 jobs. The MoU follows the Maharashtra government’s introduction of the Green Integrated Data Centre Parks policy last year.

Back in 2019, the state government had declared Integrated Data Centres a ‘thrust area’ for industrial growth. The demand for such infrastructure has surged in recent years, driven by the rapid expansion of cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and digital services.

According to a statement issued by the company, the MoU was signed a year after the Maharashtra government launched its Green Integrated Data Centre Parks policy. The initiative aims to promote sustainable infrastructure for the rapidly growing data centre sector, which has seen rising demand due to the expansion of cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and digital services.

The policy, introduced after the state declared Integrated Data Centres a ‘thrust area’ for industrial growth in 2019, mandates that these energy-intensive facilities be powered by green and alternative energy sources. As part of the programme, three such data centre parks are planned in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

The 370-acre green data centre park to have a planned capacity of 2GW

According to the statement, the green data centre park, spread over 370 acres, with a planned capacity of 2 gigawatts, is designed to host multiple leading international and domestic players.

“We are excited to partner with the Government of Maharashtra in this unique initiative. The Green Integrated Data Centre Parks policy will not only create employment opportunities, boost Maharashtra’s and Indian economy, but will also operate on clean and green energy sources benefiting generations," said Abhishek Lodha, MD and CEO of Lodha Developers Ltd.

"We at Lodha, have taken giant leaps towards sustainability and are aiming for net zero across all our operations in the coming years. We are committed to the success of the Green Integrated Data Centre Park and look forward to many such partnerships with the government, all of which enable India to become a global leader by 2047," he said.