Orange has signed a new Power Purchase Agreement to procure solar power in Poland.
Under the 10-year agreement announced this week, Orange Polska has committed to sourcing energy from R.Power's photovoltaic farm, totaling more than 600GWh – around 10 percent of the telco’s Polish operations.
“Thanks to the energy secured as part of this cooperation, renewable sources will also constitute at least 65 percent of our electricity consumption in the coming years,” said Liudmila Climoc, president of Orange Polska.
“This means that we are already fulfilling our strategic goal of meeting most of our energy needs from renewable sources by 2025, even taking into account the dynamically growing traffic in our network.”
Funded in 2012, R.Power is a Polish developer and operator of solar farms. The company says it has 8.9 GWp of projects under development in its portfolio across Europe.
Orange previously signed two PPAs in Poland. The company has also signed solar PPAs in France with Total and Engie totaling more than 130MW and in Romania with Engie. Last year also saw Orange launch a €50 million ($56.3m) carbon fund to finance reforestation and ecological restoration projects.
The company has deployed solar panels at two data centers in Poland in Łódź and Warsaw; as well as at its Bercenay-en-Othe teleport in France. In Africa, Orange is deploying solar at data centers in the Ivory Coast – in Yamoussoukro and Grand Bassam – and Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou.
Orange Poland began shutting down its 3G network last month, and plans for a full nationwide switch by 2025.