Facebook signs deal with India’s CleanMax to buy clean energy

On Thursday, Facebook announced a partnership deal with CleanMax, a Mumbai-based clean energy company, for a 32MW wind power project in the state of Karnataka. The deal is first of its kind for the social media giant's first in India.

According to a joint statement of the two companies, the 32-megawatt wind power project in southern Karnataka is part of a broader range of wind and solar projects that Facebook and Mumbai-based CleanMax are collaborating on for supplying renewable energy into India's electrical grid.

CleanMax will own and run the plant, while Facebook will purchase electricity off the grid using environmental attribute certificates as part of the agreement.

Head of renewable energy at Facebook, Urvi Parekh said, “This partnership with CleanMax will enable new solar and wind power to be generated in the near future, contributing to the decarbonization of the Indian electrical grid."

Similar agreements exist in other parts of the world, where the organisation works with renewable energy providers to power its operations. Facebook has announced that it has achieved its target by using 100 percent clean energy and emitting zero emissions in its operations globally.

According to Reuters, Urvi Parekh informed the news agency that the social media giant normally does not own the power plants and but enters into "long-term" electricity purchase arrangements with the renewable energy company.

She further explained, "That enables the project to seek out the financing that it would need."