ECONET Wireless Zimbabwe says it is committed to increasing its use of renewable energy to reduce its carbon footprint and contribute to global efforts to combat the effects of climate change.
This comes as the company, the leading technology and telecommunications company in Zimbabwe, has already installed solar energy systems at all its major office premises and NOCs (network operating centres) across the country. It also comes after the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed company – in partnership with its sister company Distributed Power Technologies – embarked on a phased programme to install renewable
energy at its base stations around the country.
Responding to questions from this publication, the company’s Media & Corporate Communications Executive, Fungai Mandiveyi, said the company was committed to investing in clean energy as part of its longterm strategy to reduce the use of non-renewable energy sources.
“We are committed to mitigating our environmental impact by conducting business in a way that ensures sustainability even as we create shareholder value.
“And so we have taken a longterm view to adopt environmentally friendly strategies in all our business operations,” Mandiveyi said.
He added that in light of the current power deficit nation-wide, the use of clean, renewable energy sources would also help ease the demand on the national grid. “That supports the broader economy by directly easing pressure on electricity from Kariba and Hwange, and making it available for consumption in other productive sectors of the economy,” he said.
Mandiveyi said to augment its renewable energy drive, the Econet recently adopted Performance Optimized Data Centres (POD), that use (more modern) precision coolers to save energy, as opposed to traditional flood cooling.
He said the company’s adoption of new technologies has led it to acquire the latest energy-efficient equipment, including cloud-based servers with significantly higher energy efficiency and lower power consumption.
“Adopting new, energy-efficient technologies and equipment on all our new projects and at our office and NOC facilities has significantly reduced our daily energy consumption and its related costs,” Mandiveyi said. Econet’s head office in Zimbabwe is in Msasa, in the capital Harare. The company operates a number of shops and service centres across the country, including in Bulawayo, Chitungwiza, Mutare, Gweru, Masvingo and Vic Falls among other cities.
It also operates two large network operating centres in Harare and another one in Bulawayo. According to its 2021 annual report, Econet increased it solar powered base stations 30% from the previous year.
“Every addition of a renewable energy site contributes directly to the reduction of grid power usage, minimising greenhouse gas emissions and reducing our carbon footprint.” The report said Econet had set science-based targets to achieve a 50% reduction in absolute
emissions by 2030.
Last year the company become a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), a global voluntary initiative committed to implementing universal sustainability principles.