East Africa Data Centre announces partnership to install solar panels for power backup
East Africa Data Centre (EADC) has announced a partnership with Distributed Power Africa (DPA), a dynamic African renewable energy solutions company and a subsidiary of Econet Global, to install solar panels on its premises, enabling it to move towards achieving 100 percent dependency on renewable energy and to save KES 4.5 million a year.
DPA will set up solar panels on the data center’s rooftop, pathways, and the car parking bay, utilizing all available space to maximize solar power output, providing daytime running of the facility and acting as a backup in times of power blackout from the Kenya Power mains.
EADC general manager Dan Kwach said, “We are now powering EADC with renewable energy standing at 72.6 percent, allowing us to host, connect and support critical data for local and international companies.”
DPA chief executive Norman Moyo said, “This solar project is a 25-year asset that is specially designed for mature telco processes and systems, and through our operational management, maximize the output against its expected lifespan.”
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 in 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.
