French multinational utility company Engie’s Ivorian subsidiary has been chosen by the telecom operator Orange Services Group (GOS) to construct a solar PV power plant. The installation will supply electricity to the data center of GOS located in West Africa.
GOS has planned a 355 kWp solar power plant on its site in Abidjan, the economic capital of Ivory Coast, and entrusted the contract to Engie Services Ivory Coast. The company will also ensure the operation and maintenance of the future solar power plant.
The planned solar PV plant will be composed of monocrystalline modules spread over the sites’ parking lot shades and the rooftops of technical buildings. Engie Services Ivory Coast will be given an eleven-year duration for the completion of the solar PV plant, which will reduce the GOS dependence on the country’s electricity grid.
According to Elohim Salomon Akobe, the Communications Officer at Engie Services Ivory Coast, the facility will be the first solar power plant to supply an Orange datacenter in West Africa. The GOS solar power plant is expected to provide nearly 30% of the Abidjan site’s energy needs, with a production of 527 MWh of electricity in the first year. The company also intends to reduce carbon emissions through its future solar project.
Currently, the renewable energy share in Orange’s energy mix in the African region is around 24% through its subsidiaries in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and Liberia. The long-term solar project of GOS should bring the operator closer to its goal of using 100% renewable energy in its operations by 2040.
