Africa Data Centres and Distributed Power Africa work together to reach sustainable development goals
Africa Data Centres , a business of Cassava Technologies group , has signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement ( PPA ) with DPA Southern Africa Pty Ltd ( DPA SA ), a joint company of Distributed Power Africa and the French utility company , EDF .
Under the terms of the agreement , DPA SA will supply 12MW of renewable solar energy for Africa Data Centres ’ facilities in South Africa .
“ Through this agreement , our customers will benefit from a sustainable data centre ,” said Tesh Durvasula , CEO of Africa Data Centres .
As the demand for data continues to soar , the data centre industry is expanding rapidly , he said . “ However , while data centres are the foundation of the Digital Transformation process in Africa , they require reliable , cost-effective and preferably green power to operate . Our partnership with DPA will also help in reducing our reliance on the strained South African national grid , enabling us to play our part in alleviating the current energy challenges facing the country .”
Energy will be delivered to Africa Data Centres ’ facilities partly from the solar farm DPA is developing near Bloemfontein to deliver the first 12MW required for the ADC data centres .
Research reveals that the global data centre market was valued at US $ 187.35 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach US $ 517.17 billion by 2030 , registering a CAGR of 10.5 % from 2021 to 2030 . In addition , most estimates claim data centres are responsible for as much as 2 % of the world ’ s energy consumption , which is approximately the same as the aviation industry .
While it cannot be denied that tremendous strides have been made towards carbon neutrality , designing , developing and operating sustainable facilities is still one of the greatest challenges faced by developers , colocation operators , global cloud computing providers and hyperscalers .
According to Durvasula : “ Each year , the data centre industry must try to accommodate two fundamental goals . Firstly , it must meet the demand for the
AFRICA DATA CENTRES HAS A TARGET TO POWER ALL ITS DATA CENTRES WITH CLEAN , ZERO-CARBON SOURCES OF ENERGY .
capacity needed to support the everincreasing range of high-performance computing , digital services , Edge environments and connected devices . Secondly , it must find ways to lower energy usage and reduce its universal impact resources that are already stretched to the limit .”
Africa Data Centres has a target to power all its data centres with clean , zero-carbon sources of energy . “ This new deal will provide over 30 % of our South African data centres with renewable energy , a great stride forward in our aim to reach carbon neutrality .”
DPA is a pan-African renewable energy company with key operations in South Africa , Kenya and Zimbabwe whose vision is to power Africa to a brighter future . Commenting on the partnership , Norman Moyo , CEO of DPA , said : “ Our customers are looking for cost-effective and efficient ways of meeting their green targets and reduce energy costs for their businesses in a climate of increased power shortages . We are excited to embark on this milestone project with Africa Data Centres as it will demonstrate our innovation in deploying renewable energy solutions .” � intelligent POWER AND COOLING www . intelligentdatacentres . com
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