NIGERIA – MDXi, a carrier-neutral data centre and a fully owned subsidiary of MainOne, the broadband infrastructure company, has announced focus on reducing greenhouse gas emission in its quest to promote sustainable development.
The organisation has a focus on deliberate action and a commitment to doing what is right even though it comes at a high cost. Obtaining 100 per cent of its power supply from the national grid due to private investment implies the company can reduce its dependence on fossil fuels.
In addition, even before construction commenced, the organization ensured that the data center was positioned in a location with access to the national grid.
“In January 2021, MDXi recorded 100 per cent availability of supply from the national grid through the Eko Electric Distribution Company (EKEDC),” Chief Operating Officer at MDXi, Mr. Gbenga Adegbiji.
“This excellent availability record meant the company did not have to run any of our four heavy duty generating sets, thereby saving a huge amount of carbon emissions, and contributing our own quota to the environment.”
“The availability means stability of all facility equipment and more peace of mind for our customers aside from the added benefit of reducing carbon footprint.”
According to Adegbiji, the company started to reap the full benefits of its green power initiatives embarked upon some years ago with an investment of close to US$1 million in direct connection of its Lekki Data Centre to the national grid in order to enjoy 100 per cent power availability from the grid.
Since it launched in 2015, MDXi has operated carrier-neutral facilities and harnessed MainOne’s network footprint not only to interconnect all major network and content providers in the West African sub region, but also enable Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and virtual network operators connect to the data centers to provide services to hosted customers.
“As a market leader in Data Centre solutions, MDXi ensures that energy efficiency and environmental sustainability is a major aspect of our centers, like the upcoming Lekki 2 and Sagamu Data Centres and the new Appolonia Data Centre (Accra), which received its Tier III design certifications and will be ready for commissioning in a couple of weeks,” Adegbiji added.
There are ongoing efforts to explore additional green initiatives such as utilizing solar to generate power for the additional MDXi data centre facilities located in Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, Adegbiji said.
It comes as Africa is easily contributing the least of any continent to global warming. Africa, with a bulging population of 1.3 billion people, produces 2–3 per cent of world’s carbon dioxide emissions from energy and industrial sources, according to the United Nations Fact Sheet on Climate Change (UNFCC).
However, the UNFCC said the continent is most vulnerable to climate change. Seven of the 10 countries that are most vulnerable to climate change are in Africa.
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