Scaling our renewable power business into real estate
A first-class office campus becomes the first of its kind
Candor TechSpace is India’s largest, foreign-owned and -managed office park portfolio, comprising five Class A, IT/ITES campus-style properties in key gateway locations of Gurugram, Noida, and Kolkata. Candor TechSpace is comprised of nearly 14 million square feet of office space with an additional seven million under development. Brookfield acquired the portfolio in 2014, and has since taken on several energy efficiency initiatives to achieve significant cost savings and positive environmental outcomes.
Energy supply challenges and opportunities
At the time we acquired Candor TechSpace, two of the Delhi properties in the Gurgoan suburb (G1 and G2) had energy demands that exceeded the grid power supplied by nearly 30%. The difference, at the time, was being made up by diesel generators.
While common in India, there were several reasons why we wanted to move away from this type of power supply. First, diesel generators have high maintenance costs and even higher environmental impacts - including lower efficiency and quality of power - meaning the properties were frequently dealing with power failures and outages due to generator fatigue. Second, there was a risk that the generators could be overused and the system could permanently cease due to continuous use, versus only being used back-up power. Finally, diesel power typically costs anywhere from 1.5 to 2 times that of traditional grid electricity, which was being passed on to tenants.
To help alleviate these issues, we undertook an extensive four-year upgrade - in coordination with six local and governmental agencies - to diversify the campuses’ energy supply and reduce operating costs.
The results speak for themselves
- $6M investment to upgrade infrastructure
- $3.6M annual energy savings
- 16,000 tons of CO2 saved annually
Our energy diversification initiatives included:
- Replacing the diesel generators with additional electricity support from the local grid system
- Substation and energy transmission upgrades directly to the campuses
- Rooftop solar power installations
- Complete HVAC system re-engineering to ensure efficient use of cooling and heating
- LED light installation throughout the campus common areas
- Replacing all conventional air filters with electrostatic filters, and all conventional fans with electronically commuted models
- Chiller efficiency improvements
The incredible results of our upgrades:
- Over $3.6 million of annual energy cost savings recognized annually
- A ROI of less than one year on all the upgrades
- CO2 savings of over 16,000 tons annually
- Significant improvement in indoor air quality (IAQ) and automation of IAQ monitoring
- Reduced exposure to fluctuating oil prices
- Compliance with expected local legislation
- Limits potential negative impacts on tenant operations
- Numerous environmental certifications and awards
