Safaricom, Kenya’s largest telecommunications operator, consumed 274,531 megawatt-hours of electrical energy within the monetary yr ended March 2026, a 5.7% enhance from the earlier yr.
Its emissions from electrical energy purchases, gas burned in turbines and automobiles, and refrigerant gases utilized in cooling methods rose by 9.1% to 56,354 tonnes of carbon dioxide equal.
The figures, documented in Safaricom’s 2026 Sustainability Report, counsel that the corporate’s 2030 expertise ambitions have gotten costlier. Its increasing community, knowledge centres, and digital companies demand extra power, however cleaner sources nonetheless cowl solely a small share of its total supply.
The enhance 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 yr earlier. It additionally upgraded 800 websites with extra environment friendly power methods. Yet photo voltaic equipped solely 5% of the power used throughout its community. The nationwide grid accounted for 78%, whereas diesel turbines equipped 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 mentioned 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 tougher as Safaricom strikes past cell connectivity into knowledge centres, cloud companies and different digital merchandise. Each wants computing tools, cooling and a gradual electrical energy supply. Intermittent power is just not an possibility with out backup methods, and people add their very own prices.
Power will tackle a bigger share of Safaricom’s prices to run the community, knowledge centres, and cloud companies 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 gas in FY26, down from 10.47 million litres a yr earlier, and diesel accounted for nearly 80% of emissions from its direct operations, which additionally embrace refrigerant gases. Generators preserve 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 prospects, together with when the nationwide grid is down. Reducing diesel use will require reliable options at hundreds of web sites, not simply extra photo voltaic panels.
Safaricom can be combining photo voltaic installations with lithium-ion batteries, extra environment friendly power methods, extra grid connections and distant monitoring. It says clever shutdown expertise can cut back radio community power consumption by as much as 8%. These measures can lower generator use, however their attain is dependent upon the circumstances at every web site. Some areas have restricted house for photo voltaic tools, whereas an unreliable grid supply makes it tougher to depend on nationwide grid electrical energy.
There is a monetary incentive to make the change. Solar installations generated month-to-month power price financial savings of about KES 16.42 million ($127,000) in FY26. Safaricom estimates that changing diesel with cleaner power might 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 preserve its community working whereas lowering the associated 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 below a KES 40 billion ($310 million) home medium-term be aware 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 unbiased power producers to supply its power-intensive knowledge centres. It had not concluded by the tip of FY26. It additionally examined a hydrogen gas cell at one web site, however mentioned that wider deployment confronted constraints as a consequence of gas and capital prices. Neither possibility has but supplied a transparent path to lowering the corporate’s dependence on grid electrical energy and diesel at scale.
An additional 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 knowledge availability. The fall, subsequently, can’t be learn as proof that the corporate’s total environmental affect improved by the identical margin.
Safaricom has a net-zero emissions goal for 2050, and assembly it will turn into tougher 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 equipped by cleaner sources because the enterprise grows.
Safaricom desires to promote greater than connectivity, and its ambitions in knowledge centres, computing capability, and digital companies will require a dependable power supply. The firm now has to indicate it might construct that infrastructure with out letting power prices and emissions preserve rising.
