Energy & Sustainability

Two very different recently announced initiatives are hoping to make some progress with the vexed question of managing data centre power use and emissions.

Parts of Africa may be able to look forward to a new approach to energy efficiency that could also benefit data centre rollout. This comes in the wake of an announcement from a company that aims to create a sustainable bridge between excess energy and the power needs of the high-performance computing industry.

An impressive example of telecommunications’ potential as a contributor to environmental awareness comes from Malaysia where operator edotco is helping to control greenhouse gas emissions in an ingenious way.

Indian operator Bharti Airtel says it has appointed a committee to work on its efforts towards an environmental, sustainability and governance (ESG) initiative.

Airtel Africa, a provider of telecommunications and mobile money services with a presence in 14 countries across Africa, has announced the launch of a comprehensive – and ambitious – sustainability strategy.

STC and Ericsson have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore sustainable initiatives to power the operator’s network infrastructure with intelligent and renewable energy.

Indian telecoms giant Bharti Airtel has announced that it is joining global efforts to combat climate change.

In an interesting reminder of the growing relevance of smart grids and the Internet of Things (IoT) to developing markets, it has been reported that Kenyan operator Safaricom is offering to supply a $288 million smart metre system to the country’s main power utility.

Pan-African operator Vodacom has installed three new solar-powered sites in South Africa as part of what it describes as its energy and carbon management strategy and commitment to reducing its impact on the environment.

Polarium which provides energy storage solutions built on lithium-ion technology for the telecom, commercial, and industrial segments, has announced a new deal with ATC Africa, the African subsidiary of American Tower Corporation.

Solar power is supporting the activities of a number of Orange subsidiaries in Africa and a Huawei data centre in Jordan.

Bharti Airtel has announced the expansion of what it calls its green energy footprint with the commissioning of a captive solar power plant for its data centres in Uttar Pradesh.

Data centre provider ST Telemedia Global Data Centres’ India unit has announced a new partnership with Indian cleantech company Avaada Energy to procure renewable energy.

Philippines operator Smart Communications has announced plans to roll out fuel cell sites in off-grid or hard-to-reach areas nationwide. This rollout starts in the second quarter of 2021 and will continue until the end of the year.

The theme of environmental responsibility has been making news in Middle East telecommunications in recent days.

Airtel Zambia signed up to Ericsson’s e-waste programme to minimise the operator's environmental impact, with the focus on the disposal of decommissioned gear in Zambia.

At the 12th Huawei User Group Meeting in 2020, Li Yao, deputy director from NOC of China Mobile Pakistan, delivered a keynote speech on "Energy-efficient Operation in the EM Market".

Fenix International, part of global utility ENGIE, has reached 30,000 Zambian households just 9 months after expanding into the country in partnership with telecom MTN.

The TRIBID green energy project has been officially registered at the 8th Japan-Indonesia JCM Joint Committee in Jakarta.

Off-grid renewable energy operator Winch Energy and African ISP iWayAfrica will deploy a remote solar kiosk under a pilot program.

Renewable energy company SolarNow is backing the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) in Africa.

Montenego’s Crnogorski Telekom has signed a 10-year Energy Infrastructure Management agreement with Ericsson.