By Staff Reporter
Africa Data Centres (ADC), a subsidiary of Cassava technologies, has signed a power deal with Distributed Power Africa (DPA) that will see the latter supplying the former with 12 megawatts of power for a period spanning 20 years.
Under the agreement, DPA SA will supply 12MW of solar energy to the South African facilities of Africa Data Centres, a company that hosts the largest network of data centres on the continent.
Tesh Durvasula, Africa Data Centres Chief Executive Officer (CEO), said the long term deal will hedge the company from power challenges.
“Through this agreement, our customers will benefit from a sustainable data centre,” said Tesh Durvasula.
“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 helps 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.”
South Africa, just like some countries in the region, is experiencing rolling power cuts that are currently on stage five.
Power cuts have strained business in South Africa with some resorting to green energy to hedge themselves from blackouts.
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.
Durvasula said the power deal dovetails with the company’s vision of turning its businesses to be green powered.
“Each year, the data centre industry must try to accommodate two fundamental goals,” said Durvasula.
“Firstly, it must meet the demand for the capacity needed to support the ever-increasing 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.
“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.
“By signing this latest PPA, we will reach our second milestone towards carbon neutrality.
“Our first milestone was to optimise our roof space with solar, and this latest deal will see us utilising the recently approved wheeling mechanism within South Africa’s municipalities.”
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.
DPA CEO Norman Moyo said the milestone deal with ADC will stretch the company’s ability in providing renewable energy.
“Our customers are looking for cost-effective and efficient ways of meeting their green targets and reducing 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.”
