Digital Realty Company iColo Expands Renewable Energy Initiatives with Solar Panel Installation in Kenya

Posted on : Friday , 6th September 2024

The Digital Realty Company, iColo, has announced that it has installed solar panels at its facilities in Kenya, marking a significant extension of its renewable energy activities. By doing this, the connectivity providers at iColo's data centers may improve their green credentials. Over 650 kW of additional solar arrays have been deployed and successfully commissioned by the company across its two data center locations in Mombasa and Nairobi.

Over 450kW of the new solar capacity are installed at the iColo NBO campus in Nairobi, home to over 60 national and international networks. The campus will continue to expand with the help of this addition. At iColo's growing Miritini site in Mombasa, the final roughly 200 kW of capacity has been installed.

The founder and CEO of iColo, Ranjith Cherickel, stated, "Our solar investments are driven not only by our sustainability goals as a company but also by our commitment to support our customers' renewable energy targets." "The campus's enhanced sustainable energy source will assist Mombasa's premier global interconnection center, which has over 85 network providers, as we continue to expand. By utilizing Kenya's abundant renewable energy resources, we are honored to be at the forefront of the movement towards a sustainable future. For the foreseeable future, we will keep making investments in renewable energy to meet our needs for electricity. We're pushing the envelope on renewable energy, we're not just adopting it," stated Cherickel.

According to the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), 82% of Kenya's energy generation mix comes from renewable sources like wind, hydropower, and geothermal energy. This means that the country already has a largely renewable power infrastructure. iColo is aggressively looking for more area for solar panels, including greenfields, parking lots, and rooftops at all of its campuses, as part of its commitment to sustainable energy solutions. One of the company's long-term objectives is to use solar systems to supply 25% of the electricity needed for its facilities.

iColo's long-term plan is to match the expansion of its campuses with the provision of additional solar power to satisfy growing demand. The firm's master plan now calls for three data centers, one of which is a captive substation. At full capacity, the company is expected to need more than 20 megawatts (MW). Expected to go online in Q3 2025 is the company's second data center in Nairobi, NBO2, which has a 6.5 MW IT load.

Digital Realty's worldwide dedication to sustainability is in line with iColo's latest solar projects in Kenya. Joining the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in 2020, Digital Realty committed to reducing its emissions from Scope 1 and 2 by 68% and its emissions from Scope 3 by 24% by 2030. Digital Realty has secured contracts for more than 1.4 gigawatts of renewable power, achieving notable milestones in the procurement of renewable energy in addition to its environmental goals. This is a significant step toward its clean energy goals.

A larger initiative by Digital Realty to source solar electricity throughout Africa includes the expansion of solar power in Kenya. A sizable solar project in the Free State province of South Africa was recently presented by Teraco, another Digital Realty Company. The project by Teraco entails the distribution of grid capacity for a utility-scale solar installation with a capacity of 120 MW. The solar facility will likely produce more than 338,000 megawatt-hours of electricity per year once it is operational, which will make a substantial contribution to the renewable energy landscape of the area and further demonstrate Digital Realty's commitment to sustainable practices.