Distributed Power Africa (DPA), a subsidiary of the Econet Group of companies, and Econet is a Pan African Technology, and Telecommunications group, operating in more than 20 African countries, is installing a 1MW solar system for Africa Data Centres’ facility in Nairobi, Kenya.
According to DPA, this is the third installation it is deploying this year for Africa Data Centre, with the first phase having been completed in May and currently working on phase 2. Africa Data Centre is the continent’s first and largest network of interconnected, carrier and cloud neutral data centre facilities, rapidly expanding across the region. While serving Africa’s largest domestic and international customers, Africa Data Centre has become a leader in deploying sustainable technologies across its facilities in Africa.
Africa Data Centre’s Nairobi is also the first carrier-neutral facility in the East Africa region, and its largest and most connected operation, with a total of 2000 square meters of secured space for data servers. The centre provides a wide range of services for clients, including cloud solutions, backup, storage and networking.
“With DPA as a partner, Africa Data Centre will be able to use clean, sustainable energy provided by the sun to save on operational costs as well as reduce their carbon footprint,” says Norman Moyo, CEO of DPA Africa.
To date, the solar project has 136 kW already operational and producing 193 200 kWh of solar energy per year. Upon completion of the 1 MWp installation, the data centre aims to move towards a 100% renewable energy powered business, annual generation is projected at 1,494 MWh with annual CO2 Savings of 2,400 Tonnes.
“This is in line with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta’s recent announcement that his government aims to fully transition Kenya to clean renewable energy by 2020,” adds Moyo.
Dan Kwach, General Manager, Africa Data Centres East Africa region, said renewable energy would allow them to host, connect and support critical data for local and international companies in an environmentally-friendly way. “As an environmentally conscious business, we are looking to make sustainable solutions standard practice across our facilities to allow for greater cost savings and productivity, which in turn will enable us to better service our customers in the region.”
“This project is one of many data centres that DPA has deployed solar power to this year, with other installations in Johannesburg and Cape Town and it will go a long way towards improving energy security by providing an additional source of power. The power needs of data centres tend to be large and sensitive, and DPA’s deployment of solar can improve the reliability of power supply that will benefit business operations in a cost-effective way,” says Moyo.
Distributed Power Africa provides such solar solutions at zero upfront investment on a lease agreement and guarantees customers no technical risk, by employing the best technologies available. As part of the lease, DPA takes full responsibility for engineering, procurement, installation, monitoring, maintenance, warranties and insurance.
