Safaricom, Kenya’s largest telecommunications operator, consumed 274,531 megawatt-hours of electrical energy within the monetary 12 months ended March 2026, a 5.7% improve from the earlier 12 months.
Its emissions from electrical energy purchases, gasoline burned in turbines and autos, and refrigerant gases utilized in cooling programs rose by 9.1% to 56,354 tonnes of carbon dioxide equal.
The figures, documented in Safaricom’s 2026 Sustainability Report, recommend that the corporate’s 2030 know-how ambitions have gotten dearer. Its increasing community, information centres, and digital providers demand extra power, however cleaner sources nonetheless cowl solely a small share of its total supply.
The improve got here as Safaricom expanded its renewable power programme. By March 2026, it had put in photo voltaic power at 2,028 community websites, up from 1,432 a 12 months earlier. It additionally upgraded 800 websites with extra environment friendly power programs. Yet photo voltaic provided solely 5% of the power used throughout its community. The nationwide grid accounted for 78%, whereas diesel turbines provided the remaining 17%.
“Grid availability and reliability influence our ability to reduce diesel consumption, while physical constraints at some sites can limit the potential for on-site solar generation,” Safaricom stated within the report.
Investment is outpacing the shift in Safaricom’s power combine. The firm is including photo voltaic tools, but its total power demand continues to climb. In its report, Safaricom famous that “network expansion continues to influence our overall energy requirements.”
Managing that demand will get more durable as Safaricom strikes past cell connectivity into information centres, cloud providers and different digital merchandise. Each wants computing tools, cooling and a gentle electrical energy supply. Intermittent power isn’t an choice with out backup programs, and people add their very own prices.
Power will tackle a bigger share of Safaricom’s prices to run the community, information centres, and cloud providers in its next phase of growth. Meeting its local weather targets is the lesser of the 2 pressures.
For all its photo voltaic ambitions, Safaricom nonetheless runs a lot of its community on diesel. The firm burned 10.08 million litres of gasoline in FY26, down from 10.47 million litres a 12 months earlier, and diesel accounted for nearly 80% of emissions from its direct operations, which additionally embrace refrigerant gases. Generators maintain community websites working when grid power fails or turns into unreliable.
The telco can’t merely abandon them, contemplating its community should stay accessible to clients, together with when the nationwide grid is down. Reducing diesel use will require reliable alternate options at 1000’s of websites, not simply extra photo voltaic panels.
Safaricom can be combining photo voltaic installations with lithium-ion batteries, extra environment friendly power programs, extra grid connections and distant monitoring. It says clever shutdown know-how can cut back radio community power consumption by as much as 8%. These measures can minimize generator use, however their attain is determined by the situations at every website. Some areas have restricted house for photo voltaic tools, whereas an unreliable grid supply makes it more durable to depend on nationwide grid electrical energy.
There is a monetary incentive to make the change. Solar installations generated month-to-month power value financial savings of about KES 16.42 million ($127,000) in FY26. Safaricom estimates that changing diesel with cleaner power may save greater than KES 500 million ($3.9 million) by 2030. The firm’s report says its power technique “balances three priorities: power stability, energy cost efficiency and sustainability.” The order displays the sensible problem that Safaricom should maintain its community working whereas lowering the fee and emissions of doing so.
The firm has additionally raised cash for eligible inexperienced initiatives. Its KES 20 billion ($155 million) inexperienced bond, issued underneath a KES 40 billion ($310 million) home medium-term observe programme, was oversubscribed by 175.7%. The proceeds can assist renewable power and extra energy-efficient community infrastructure. But financing doesn’t take away the technical constraints.
Safaricom explored power buy agreements with impartial power producers to supply its power-intensive information centres. It had not concluded by the tip of FY26. It additionally examined a hydrogen gasoline cell at one website, however stated that wider deployment confronted constraints as a consequence of gasoline and capital prices. Neither choice has but offered a transparent path to lowering the corporate’s dependence on grid electrical energy and diesel at scale.
An extra complication is how Safaricom reviews its progress. Its emissions per KES million in income fell from 0.144 to 0.14 tonnes in FY26. That suggests the corporate generated extra income for every unit of emissions. But its complete emissions from electrical energy purchases and direct operations nonetheless rose. Better emissions depth doesn’t imply the enterprise is producing fewer emissions total.
The decline in its wider reported carbon footprint additionally wants context. Emissions from its supply chain and different oblique sources fell to 136,943 tonnes from 226,047 tonnes. Safaricom attributed a part of the discount to modifications in reporting methodology and information availability. The fall, due to this fact, can’t be learn as proof that the corporate’s total environmental influence improved by the identical margin.
Safaricom has a net-zero emissions goal for 2050, and assembly it will change into more durable if growth continues to drive up electrical energy demand and backup power use. Solar-powered websites present progress, however a clearer indicator will be the share of Safaricom’s power provided by cleaner sources because the enterprise grows.
Safaricom needs to promote greater than connectivity, and its ambitions in information centres, computing capability, and digital providers will require a dependable power supply. The firm now has to point out it may possibly construct that infrastructure with out letting power prices and emissions maintain rising.
