East Africa Data Centre bags Sh130.6 million solar deal

Distributed Power Africa (DPA), and Mettle Solar experts on Wednesday finalised a Sh130.6 million ($1.2Million) joint investment into the East Africa Data Centre (EADC) Asset Company based in Nairobi.

The partnership will see the asset company set up to own and operate a 1MW solar plant powering Liquid Telecom’s East Africa Data Centre (EADC) in Nairobi. The move comes just in time as many businesses in Kenya shift to resume operations in response to the economy opening up.

“With sub-Sahara Africa experiencing major power cuts, businesses in Africa are increasingly interested in affordable and reliable energy. We also believe energy to be a fundamental pillar in supporting Africa’s economic development, and this unique partnership is an important building block towards realising our vision of a digitally connected future that leaves no African behind,” said Norman Moyo, DPA Africa CEO.

Mettle Solar is a Gridworks investee company, financed by CDC Group plc, the UK’s development finance institution. CDC Group also provided debt funding to the project through a facility made available via CDC Group’s Resource Efficiency Facility.

DPA AND Mettle Solar’s partnership seeks to provide solutions to industries in Africa looking to meet their technical and financial challenges while investing in renewable energy.

 Francois Van Themaat, Mettle Solar CEO said “We are very happy to be working with DPA to help reduce the energy costs and carbon footprint of the largest data centre in East Africa. We look forward to building on this partnership and to keep on playing our part to assist businesses across the region with their energy needs.”

The solar plant will enable EADC to significantly lower their overall energy costs whilst at the same time reducing their carbon footprint.