Company
Sustainability
at Teraco
Sustainability Pillar: Environment
This pillar consists of these key areas:
Renewable Energy / Energy Efficiency / Resource Reduction
Environment
01. Renewable Energy
We continue to seek alternative energy solutions and opportunities in pursuit of our renewable energy ambitions by:
- Maximising our rooftop solar PV coverage across all our operating and new build facilities
- Investigating and engaging utility scale wheeled energy solutions from renewable energy sources
- Evaluating and implementing alternative green energy offset mechanisms for both our own and our clients’ energy consumption
Our Goals
6MW
Maximise the combined rooftop solar footprint across our facilities to 6MW by 2023
50%
50% of our energy consumption supplied from clean sources by 2027*
100%
100% of our energy consumption supplied from clean sources by 2035*
*Includes Eskom/local utility supplied clean energy, energy generated from Teraco’s solar facilities and 3rd party renewable energy suppliers/wheeled arrangements/renewable energy certificate purchases.
Highlights
Teraco is committed to accelerating the shift towards renewable energy
We have entered into a development agreement with an experienced renewable energy developer and EPC to develop and build 2x100MW solar PV sites to generate and wheel power to Teraco’s facilities – when fully operational these 2x100MW solar plants are expected to produce more than 500,000 MWh per annum
On-site solar PV program
Teraco continued to scale renewable energy consumption across our operations through direct investment in our on-site solar PV program:
- Teraco already owns and operates a 2 MWp solar array installation at our JB2 facility, which includes a bespoke 250 kWp rooftop solar structural pilot that allows for the deployment of solar over our existing rooftop cooling infrastructure;
- This pilot project has laid the foundation to roll out an additional combined 2.5 MWp at our JB1, JB3 and CT2 sites in 2022
- Almost 6,000,000 kWhs per annum are expected to be generated from this rooftop Solar program mitigating more than 5,650 tonnes CO2* per annum.
*Based on 949.1 g/kWh, CDM figure for Southern African Power Pool
Environment
Energy in South Africa
85% of electricity in South Africa is supplied from fossil fuel fired generation technology
- Coal
- Nuclear
- Diesel/Gas
- Hydro
- Hydro Imports
- Wind
- Solar
- CSP
Teraco Clean Energy Glide Path to 50% Clean Energy by 2027
Teraco has set aside in excess of R3bn in capex over the next 5 years for Teraco’s utility-scale solar program. Implementation of this project will closely follow enabling regulations, policies and tariffs as well as grid connection/transmission capacity.
- Nuclear
- Diesel/Gas
- Hydro
- Hydro Imports
- Wind
- Solar
- CSP
Environment
02. Energy Efficiency
At Teraco our engineering team drive continued improvement in energy efficiency through:
- Excellence in design;
- Deployment of the latest leading-edge technology;
- Application of continuous system commissioning; and
- Retrofitting of latest efficient designs to older facilities (where practicable)
to ensure our facilities are the most efficient and sustainable that they can be at the lowest total cost of ownership
Highlights
82,241 MWh
82,241 MWh demand savings and 78,055 mtCO2e avoided as a result of energy saving initiatives and investments since 2017
1.55
1.55 Average Annual PUE in 2021, a 22.5 % decrease from a PUE of over 2.00 in 2017
ISO 50001
ISO 50001 Energy Management – certification achieved across all facilities in June 2022.
1.50x / 1.30x
New facilities peak and blended PUEs of 1.50x and 1.30x respectively based on our newest cooling designs
PUE Improvement
Pure focus on PUE improvement - Five years ago, Teraco’s rolling PUE exceeded 2.00 - through our energy efficiency initiatives we have been able to reduce our blended PUE by over 22%
Environment
Excellence in Design With the Latest Technology
New efficient designs and deployment of the latest cutting-edge technologies lead to significant PUE performance gains:
Centralized cooling plants – deployment of centralized cooling plants results in improved cooling density / capacity, efficiency economies of scale and system performance which in turn results in significant energy savings
Free Cooling – whenever the outside air is cooler than the required supply side temperature it can be used for cooling. We have deployed and operate a combination of indirect, direct (partial and 100%) and blended free cooling systems (up to 30 °C ambient) across our sites as befits the ambient conditions and cooling requirements of each specific site.
Introduction of distributed redundant designs – leads to a reduction in energy consumption as electrical equipment is operating at higher efficiencies
Roll out of Dynamic Cooling Management across all our facilities – to ensure that the right cooling is always available where it’s needed to deliver significant and immediate reductions in cooling energy requirements and carbon emissions
Environment
Continuous Energy Efficiency Improvement
Our teams continue to engage in various initiatives to minimize and continuously improve our PUE performance through:
Changing cooling control parameters – our team continuously seek the most the efficient hot/cold aisle set points within SLA requirements and ASHRAE recommendations to optimise energy use across all facilities
Deployment of ultrasonic humidifiers – replacement of electrode humidifiers with ultrasonic humidifiers has significantly lowered the energy required to maintain humidity levels in line with SLAs
Rollout of LED lighting and motion detection sensors – replacement of incandescent/fluorescent lightbulbs with LEDs coupled with motion detection sensors has resulted in a >75% energy saving for our facilities
Heat extraction – extraction hoods have been placed directly over UPS systems to remove heat at source, lowering overall cooling requirements in energy centers
Energy recycling – we utilize the waste heat from our transformers to warm up our generator engine blocks thus reducing / eliminating power used by the engine block heaters
Rack blanking panels – racks are checked regularly with blanking panels placed in an empty rack space to reduce the energy required to cool our data halls
Optimised placement of floor grills – careful management of the floor grill placement increases the temperature of the return air from the data halls improving the efficiency of our cooling plant
Environment
03. Resource Reduction
We strive to proactively reduce our use of resources by:
- Reducing our facilities contributions to landfill waste
- Proactively monitoring and manage our water consumption to reduce use
- Reducing our risk of an environmental incident
Highlights
Environmental Management Systems
ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management System certification was achieved across all facilities in June 2022.
Environmental Awareness
We continue to environmental awareness through our successful Teraco Environmental Awareness Campaign
Waste Management Pilot
Waste management pilot implemented at JB1 with 11,141 kgs recycled in 2021
Waste Management Programme
Waste management programme rolled out to all Teraco facilities in progress, expected completion June 2022
Water Monitoring Devices
Installation of water monitoring and measurement devices across all water systems underway, expected completion May 2022
Goal
- Waste – establish a waste baseline in 2022 and a meaningful waste reduction target for 2023
- Water – establish a water use baseline in 2022 and a meaningful water reduction target for 2023
Environment
Waste Management
Reducing waste generation through the prevention, reduction, recycling, and reuse of waste produced during operations is a priority for Teraco – at our JB1 facility, we have piloted our waste management system, which includes:
Recycling
Clearly marked bins for separate recycling streams for our clients and staff. These include colour-coded bins for general waste, plastic, glass, tins and cardboard waste
Battery End-of-life
Implementation of end-of-life battery bins to ensure that batteries are not disposed of with general waste
e-Waste
Providing clearly labeled e-waste disposal locations, with disposal and destruction in line with ISO27001 data standards
Our JB1 facility produced 41 tonnes of waste during 2021 with 11 tonnes / 27 % recycled / diverted from landfill.
We are also rolling out our waste management to all our other Teraco owned Facilities and aim to establish a waste generation baseline by the end of 2022
Through our ISO14001 implementation, we have been and will continue to educate our employees on minimizing and where possible eliminating waste. As we continue to implement our waste management programme as well as investigate and identify ways in which to reduce our waste volumes within our facilities, we are committed to providing a more detailed disclosure of our waste management data and targets for 2022.
Environment
Water Management
We are committed to optimizing the use of water in our facilities through the reduction, recycling, and reuse in our operating activities:
Water Cooling
Our closed-loop water cooling systems used across the majority of our facilities minimize water lost to cooling and greatly reduces environmental contamination risk
Rainwater Catchment
We have rainwater catchment systems installed across our Facilities to minimise municipal water use
Water Management
Our proactive response to responsible water management at a minimum complies with local and national requirements
Education
Through our ISO14001 implementation we have been and will continue to educate our employees on responsible water use and management
- Alternative water management / consumption reductions options are explored on an ongoing basis by our engineering team – this feeds through into our facility design and improvement plans for future new facility builds
- Our operating facilities consumed 9,638 kL of water during 2021. We are in the process of installing water monitoring and measurement devices across all our water systems. This will enable us to baseline our water consumption and verify our rolling 12-month water consumption reduction targets
- As we continue to implement our water monitoring programme as well as investigate and analyse opportunities in which to reduce our water consumption, we are committed to providing more detailed disclosure and analysis of our water consumption data for 2022
Environment
Colocation’s Environmental Benefits
Environmental responsibility is an essential part of achieving our clients’ sustainability goals
Co-location uses fewer resources
When thinking of sustainability, most companies’ minds will immediately jump into reducing their ecological footprint with renewable energy sources. It is however worth considering how co-location can help use fewer existing resources
Internal data center can be a disadvantage
Operating an internal data center often puts a company at a disadvantage when it comes to sustainability. It is unlikely that their building / office is specifically designed for the sustainable management of critical IT infrastructure from a power, cooling and water monitoring / efficiency focused perspective
Reduce environmental impact
By outsourcing data center activities, businesses can positively reduce their impact on the environment through more efficient allocation of resources (power, cooling and water) and pure focus on data center efficiencies while achieving better cloud connectivity with lower latency and much improved security. This will also help to minimize capital expenditure and overhead costs
