From left: Africa Data Centers executives: Tesh Durvasula CEO, Wabo Majavu Business Operations and Strategy Director, Finhai Munzara CFO.
African Data Centers, a unit of the Cassava Technologies group, has announced the groundbreaking of a solar power plant based in the Free State as part of its sustainability efforts.
The project is operated in partnership with solar energy solutions provider DPA Southern Africa. DPA Southern Africa is a joint venture between Cassava Technologies' Distributed Power Africa and French power company EDF.
The announcement is a key element of the 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) that African Data Center signed last month with DPA Southern Africa.
According to a statement, Free State Farm's purpose is to provide renewable energy to data center sites in Africa, including the CPT1 facility, a carrier-neutral data center in Cape Town.
The company said the renewable energy project is a key element of Africa Data Centers' plans to become one of the continent's most sustainable colocation providers.
Cassava Technologies President and Group CEO Hardy Pemuhiwa said the power supply initiative is an example for the data center industry to use sustainable technology solutions to meet South Africa's energy challenges.
“This is in line with an industry-wide shift towards innovative and environmentally friendly initiatives. The strategic use of solar power is an important part of pioneering solutions to energy issues and environmental sustainability. It shows the role of technology.”
Globally, green data centers are becoming increasingly popular as companies support climate change mitigation efforts to achieve sustainability commitments. Google Cloud, Microsoft, Schneider Electric, Digital Realty, and Amazon Web Services are among data center providers that have made strides in using sustainable energy within their facilities.
Tesh Durvasula, CEO of Africa Data Centers, highlights the company's commitment to supplying all data centers with clean renewable energy sources. “Today’s announcement represents a major step forward in our efforts to supply South Africa’s data centers with sustainable energy and advance our goal of achieving carbon neutrality. In the first phase, we will This will include the construction of 12MW of solar infrastructure to power the town's data center, with subsequent stages extending to Johannesburg's data center. ”
Durvasula said data centers around the world have come under intense scrutiny for their reliance on grid power and renewable power, and Africa is no exception. Data centers in Africa are proactively tackling this issue by generating renewable energy and reducing strain on the region's power grid, he says.
Naufal El Fadil, CEO of DPA SA, added: “We are proud to contribute to Africa Data Centers’ mission to achieve carbon neutrality, starting with the establishment of this solar farm in the Free State to service our data center in Cape Town.”