Hyderabad: The power consumption in Hyderabad’s IT hub is growing 35 per cent every year, thanks to the city’s emergence as a hub for global data centres. This growth rate is seven times more than the annual growth in power demand projected by the National Electricity Plan (NEP) for the period between 2022-32.
The power demand growth in other areas in the state, however, is consistent with the NEP’s projections. Un December 2024, the peak demand had risen by 13 per cent compared to December 2023, and in January 2025, by 10 per cent over the previous year.
Musharraf Ali Faruqui, TG Southern Power Distribution Corporation Ltd chairman and managing director, found the increase in power demand in IT areas like Gachibowli, Kondapur and Ibrahimbagh falling under its Cyber City circle phenomenal.
He said the power utility had taken up precautionary measures and infrastructure building initiatives to address the overloading issues it faced in certain areas.
The city is fast emerging as a global hub for data centres, hosting 26 establishments operated by nine service providers, with major players like CtrlS and Microsoft Azure. The growing demand for digital services with the rise of 5G, IoT, and cloud services, is also fuelling the demand for data centres in Hyderabad.
According to Sunder Rajan, a data centre administrator, data centres have become essential for businesses as they provide centralised data management, help in scaling up the business, and offer high-level security measures to protect the sensitive data, besides ensuring data availability and quick recovery during disruptions.
The data centres consume significant amounts of power as they involve high-performance computing tasks with high-capacity servers, which are primary consumers of energy. The power usage increases with workload intensity. The cooling is also essential to maintain optimal operating temperatures for servers. This process consumes a significant portion of the total power, often around 38-40 per cent.
The use of components like network devices and storage systems also contribute to overall energy consumption, though to a lesser extent than servers and cooling systems. Systems like UPS and transformers add to the energy consumption by ensuring a stable power supply, Sunder Rajan said.
Due to the phenomenal growth of the IT industry in the state, Telangana’s peak power demand is expected to reach 18,500 MW by 2025. The state is expanding power infrastructure and promoting renewable energy to meet the growing power demands.
