Orange Côte d’Ivoire has signed an agreement with the Africa-focused solar energy company SolarX for the solarization of its two data centres. Through this partnership, subsidiary of the French multinational telecommunications corporation, Orange, aims to improve the carbon footprint of its data centres in West Africa.
The agreement concerns the installation of solar panels for powering Orange’s Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast-based data centres. According to some reports, the solar energy installations will average at 1 MWp.
SolarX will install a solar power plant at the Assabou data centre in the capital of Ivory Coast, Yamoussokro. The solar energy supplier for commercial and industrial (C&I) customers will also deploy a solar PV system at Balkuy data centre in the Centre Region of Burkina Faso.
In January 2022, Orange partnered with Engie for the installation of a solar power plant (355 KWp capacity) at its Grand-Bassam data centre located in Ivory Coast’s Comoé District. Similar to the Grand-Bassam data centre, the solar power plant at Assabou data centre is expected to provide 50% of its total electricity need.
The solar energy facility at the Balkuy data centre is expected to supply 37% of its required electricity. According to SolarX, the two future solar PV systems in Orange’s Balkuy and Assabou data centres will reduce CO2 emissions by 453 tonnes per year.
Globally, the data centres account for around 2% of greenhouse gas emissions which is on par with air travel at 1.5%, according to the French start-up Greenly. These centres run continuously and are very energy-intensive, consuming up to 2% of the total world’s electricity. Solar power solution is a great option for reducing the carbon footprint of these centres.
