Chinese hyperscale data centre operator Chindata Group (Nasdaq: CD) has unveiled that it is officially establishing Chinpower as its business subsidiary to develop a new energy solution for the hyperscale data centre industry as the sector continues to work towards a zero carbon footprint.

In December 2020, Chindata revealed its roadmap to be carbon neutral at all of its hyperscale data centres in China with its 100% renewable energy solution by 2030, 30 years sooner than China’s 2060 carbon neutral pledge.

The company has committed to investing in clean energy with an installed capacity of no less than 2GW by 2030. Recently, the company has also signed renewable energy contracts with local governments, such as Datong and Zhangjiakou of China, totalling 1300 MW of installed capacity.

As digital transformation has accelerated, there is a growing demand for carrier-neutral hyperscale data infrastructure. That means it requires a huge energy supply in a focusing area.

Most of Chindata’s hyperscale sites are located in a region with rich wind and solar resources, making it possible to fully absorb local surplus wind and solar energy. In 2019 alone, Chindata achieved a portfolio renewable energy mix of 37%.

The operator has been expanding its footprint over the past few years since it launched in 2015. Its latest data centre launch was in October 2020, when it opened the doors of what the company claims to be the largest single data centre in Asia. Located in Datong, North China’s Shanxi province, has an IT volume of 50 MW.

Zhang Jifu, secretary of the Datong municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, said at the time: “The opening of the data centre is of great importance to boosting Datong’s energy information technology development.”

On the same day, Chindata and the Datong government signed an investment agreement of another data centre in Chindata’s energy data industrial base. With a total investment of 15 billion yuan (US$2.2 billion), the next-generation hyperscale data centre, which covers 500 mu (33.3 hectares), will be further expanded, to support computing power demand in AI, automatic drive and quantum communication.

Chindata’s energy data industrial base in Datong was established in 2018. According to the company, the planning area of the industrial base is 2,500 mu, and there are a total of seven phases of the construction project. The first and second phases of the project were put into operation in 2019, with the third and fourth phases by the end of 2020.

The company said when the seven phases are all put into operation, the industrial base in Datong, together with the company’s hyperscale data zones in Beijing and Hebei, will form an integrated data aggregation. The aggregation will effectively meet the digital demands from Beijing and Tianjin as well as the Xiong’an New Area in Hebei province.