Energy & Sustainability

Could a new hydrogen fuel cell-based backup power solution for telecom towers revolutionise power supply in India by providing a cleaner, more efficient alternative to traditional diesel generators?

Malaysian telco CelcomDigi announced on Friday it is collaborating with two local electric vehicle (EV) charge point operators – EV Connection’s JomCharge and Yinson Greentech’s chargEV – to install more EV charging points across the country.

The question of powering and cooling data centres is continuing to make headlines, with news that in one Asia-Pacific country they could need more power by 2040 than Malaysia uses annually now.

Teraco, a provider of interconnection platforms and vendor-neutral colocation data centres, has announced that it has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with South Africa-based integrated energy aggregator NOA to supply wind-powered renewable energy to Teraco’s data centres.

Telecom Argentina says it has taken a new step in its sustainability and energy transition strategy with an agreement signed with power company MSU Green Energy for the supply of 60,000 MWh of solar energy per year for the next ten years.

Operator Orange Romania has signed a ten-year virtual power purchase agreement (vPPA) with Engie Romania, a division of French low-carbon energy and services group Engie, to procure around 40 GWh of wind energy per year from one of Engie Romania’s wind farms.

Malaysia’s National Water Services Commission (SPAN) has reportedly warned that the country’s data centre boom could create a water crisis in the longer term unless reforms on data centre water usage are enacted in the next few years.

Technology giant Ericsson and Bahrain-headquartered technology group Beyon have renewed their collaboration to expand their joint sustainability initiatives and circular economy practices for building energy-efficient networks in Bahrain.

The latest example of the growing trend for bring renewable energy to data centres comes from B.Grimm Power (BGRIM), the power business arm of B.Grimm Group, Thailand's oldest multinational conglomerate.

The drive to ensure that the data centre industry can be seen as a responsible user of power continues, with two recent announcements in Asia and Africa emphasising plans to use renewables.

Public utility Namibia Water Corporation (NamWater) and mobile network operator and ISP MTC have announced a partnership to modernise Namibia’s water sector through digital innovation – and, importantly in a country where supply is more limited than most, save water.

Brazilian neutral network, digital infrastructure and data centre group V.tal has agreed a contract with Atlas Renewable Energy, an international renewable energy solutions provider, which says it is entering the data centre sector in Latin America through the deal.

Bahrain-based technology group Beyon has announced that its telecommunications arm, Batelco, has launched the first off-grid mobile site in the region powered entirely by renewable solar and wind energy.

Yet another renewable energy deal aimed at the power-hungry data centre market has been announced this week. It involves digital infrastructure company Equinix and renewable energy provider CleanMax, with which Equinix has signed its first power purchase agreement (PPA) in India.

ZTE revealed on Tuesday that China Mobile is deploying its AI telco cloud solution within its network to improve energy efficiency and lower opex costs following verification tests in Hunan and Anhui provinces.

Satellite operator Eutelsat Group has entered into a partnership with Clear Blue Technologies, a major name in smart energy solutions, aimed at the African market.

Dubai-based digital assets infrastructure company Hodler Investments and Chinese clean energy company Golden Concord Group (GCL) have agreed to jointly invest in an off-grid energy infrastructure project in Ethiopia to power data centres that support high-demand applications, including artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain.

Many operators are putting a lot of effort into encouraging recycling – and into being seen to lead that effort, as recent announcements from operators Vodacom in South Africa and du in the UAE indicate.

Ukrainian telco Kyivstar said on Wednesday that it has invested UAH1.9 billion (US$46 million) over the last two years to upgrade backup-power facilities for its network, the second phase of which is now underway.

Huawei’s technology is revolutionising the energy sector in the Middle East, particularly in the UAE and Saudi Arabia—two nations committed to achieving ambitious clean energy goals. At GITEX Global in Dubai, Andy Ding, Solution Vice President of Huawei Electric Power Digitalisation Business Unit, and Dr Moustafa Abdelhady M Shahin, Smart grid expert, discussed the rapid digitalisation of Dubai’s power grid, the role of smart infrastructure, the challenges of renewable integration, and other key issues.

Indian telco Bharti Airtel and Nokia announced on Tuesday they will collaborate on an initiative to introduce energy-efficient solutions and practices across Airtel’s 4G/5G RANs using AI and machine learning.

The government of the Indian state of Maharashtra has approved the establishment of what are called Green Integrated Data Centre Parks, aiming for an investment of around US$20 billion.

Following last week’s announcement by data centre company ODATA that is expanding its wind power supply in Brazil, another story, this time from India, underlines the growing importance of offering – and being seen to offer – clean energy.

Internet giant and Facebook owner Meta is planning to buy carbon credits in Latin America. But what does this mean? And will it really help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

IHS Nigeria, a subsidiary of the IHS Towers group, announced on Monday it has formed a strategic partnership with Jaza Energy to deploy solar power hubs at 250 towers in underserved communities across Nigeria.

Querétaro, strategically located in central Mexico, has low susceptibility to earthquakes and is near to Mexico City. These attributes, along with local government incentives, have attracted data centre operators, bringing investment to the area. But data centres need water – and this requirement is adding to pressure on local water supplies that are already suffering due to drought.

A regular newsmaker in the energy and sustainability news stories on this site is Clear Blue Technologies, and this week the smart power specialist has announced the execution of a Notice of Award agreement with Growth Energy, a company which specialises in the development, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and operation and maintenance (O&M) of clean energy power plants in Africa.

Philippine telco network PLDT and its wireless unit Smart Communications said on Monday they have expanding their partnership with renewable energy producer First Gen to switch six network facilities in Mindanao to 100% renewable energy.

iColo, which designs, builds, and operates state of- the-art carrier-neutral data centres in Kenya and Mozambique, has announced a significant expansion of its renewable energy initiatives with the installation of solar panels at its facilities in Kenya.

The Malaysian Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation (Petra) has this week said that it will address sustainability issues in the data centre industry – but will that cause problems for some data centre businesses now in development?