Solar power is supporting the activities of a number of Orange subsidiaries in Africa and a Huawei data centre in Jordan.
International operator Orange says it is accelerating its solar projects in Africa and the Middle East in order to reduce its carbon footprint to zero by 2040.
Where sites cannot be connected to – or cannot always rely on – the electricity grid, generators are often used, requiring fossil fuel. Orange is putting in place several initiatives such as solar panels to limit reliance on such power sources.
This is already the case with several of its subsidiaries. The renewable energy use rate is now at over 50 percent for Orange Guinea, 41 percent for Orange Madagascar and 40 percent for Orange Sierra Leone.
These solar panel solutions have also been or will soon be deployed in other African and Middle Eastern countries where Orange is present, like Liberia, for instance, where 75 percent of Orange’s telecom sites are equipped with solar panels. In total, Orange has installed solar panels at 5,400 of its telecom sites (some 100 percent solar, others hybrid) saving, it says, 55 million litres of fuel each year.
Orange has also launched three solar farms in Jordan. The aim is to meet 50 percent of the group’s electricity needs from renewable sources by 2025, and to be net zero carbon by 2040.
In Dubai, meanwhile, Moro Hub – a subsidiary of Digital DEWA, the digital arm of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) – has signed an agreement with communications giant Huawei to build a solar-powered data centre.
The new 100MW facility will be located in the 3,000MW Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park outside Dubai to the southeast of the city.
Moro Hub claims the new facility will be largest solar-powered Uptime Tier III-certified facility in the Middle East and Africa.
The new facility is Moro Hub’s second solar-powered facility; the company has a 3,402 sqm (36,600 sq ft), 8.8MW Tier III-certified data centre in the Dubai Marina.