East Africa Data Centre (EADC) based in Kenyan capital Nairobi is set to be equipped with a 1 MWp solar photovoltaic system. This is after Distributed Power Africa (DPA) and Mettle Solar a Gridworks investment company (funded by the UK development finance institution CDC Group) released US $1.2m to develop the project.
Norman Moyo, DPA’s CEO made the announcement and said that the solar power plant will reduce EADC’s electricity bills. The installation should also help the data centre reduce its carbon footprint. As part of the partnership, DPA and Mettle Solar also plan to set up an investment company to build and operate the future solar photovoltaic system to supply electricity to EADC.
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Green power
EADC is among a few Uptime certified data centres in Africa that house critical data for clients, including cloud services and data back-up on servers, and is now also supporting Kenya’s first Analytics Data Centre in Strathmore Business School, Nairobi. Its investments in green power are in line with strategic efforts to curtail global warming effects from use of fossil fuel to generate power.
Globally, data centres are now consuming some 3% of the world’s total electricity supply, with their power consumption growing at about 4% a year. Data centres are therefore going green to conserve the environment and reduce operational costs.
Sustainable energy solutions
The centre joins other Kenyan companies that have opted for the same sustainable solution. The Mundika drinking water plant in Busia County will soon be equipped with a 132 kWp solar system to supply its station during the day. The solar photovoltaic system to be installed by Davis & Shirtliff will be capable of providing 200 MWh of electricity per year.
The Menengai Farmers tea farm, on the other hand, is already benefiting from its solar photovoltaic system. In July 2020, off-grid supplier Redavia equipped the company with a small ground-based solar power plant. The new installation allows Menengai Farmers to reduce its annual electricity costs, generating savings that can be reinvested in the business, while reducing its carbon footprint.
