Data centre and cloud services provider Aruba has acquired three operational hydroelectric plants on the Stura di Lanzo river in Italy's Piedmont region, increasing its owned hydroelectric portfolio to 11 facilities.

The plants, located in the municipalities of Cafasse, Balangero and Lanzo Torinese in the province of Turin, generate approximately 10GW-hours (GWh) of renewable electricity each year.

Following the acquisition, Aruba's hydroelectric assets are expected to produce more than 60GWh annually from an installed capacity of around 11.6MW. The company's plants are located on five rivers across the Italian regions of Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

According to Aruba, the new plants were selected based on factors including water availability, existing river infrastructure, upstream flow regulation and geographic diversification.

The acquisition follows the recent installation of a third turbine at the company's hydroelectric plant at its Ponte San Pietro campus near Bergamo, increasing generation capacity at the site. Aruba has also installed photovoltaic systems across its Bergamo campus and on suitable buildings at its Rome data centre campus.

The company said the additional generation will help reduce the environmental impact of electricity used by its own infrastructure and by customers hosting IT equipment in its data centres. Any additional electricity required is sourced from renewable energy supplies.