Iron Mountain has signed a new energy deal to procure solar power from rooftop solar sites in the UK.
“In our pursuit of 24CFE (carbon free energy), matching our 100 percent clean energy consumption, 100 percent of the time, we're proud to have sealed a new partnership with InRange for our London (LON-1) data center,” the company said on LinkedIn this week.
InRange will supply 5MW annually to offset Iron Mountain’s LON-1 facility, aggregated from locally generated rooftop solar power from commercial and industrial buildings.
“InRange’s innovative platform is completely unique,” said Chris Pennington, director of energy and sustainability at Iron Mountain Data Centers. “It enables Iron Mountain to export clean energy from our lower consumption records centers and contract for locally produced rooftop power for our data centers, all in one interface.”
Iron Mountain’s LON-1 facility in Slough currently offers 8.7MW of IT capacity. The site was bought from Credit Suisse in 2017. The first phase of LON-2, announced in 2021, offers 9MW.
InRange deploys rooftop solar systems on industrial and commercial buildings and resells the energy.
The company noted large energy users like data centers or manufacturers rarely have enough roof space to meet their energy needs, while warehouses have too little on-site energy demand to make solar installations on their huge rooftops worthwhile. InRange aims to help connect large power users to solar generation in the same regional grid.
John Mushriqui, founder and CEO of InRange, added: “Energy generation just isn’t in the business DNA of most companies; they want a one-stop shop to bring their carbon footprint down and lower their energy bills. That’s what we provide, while feeding more clean electricity back to the grid and to large power customers like Iron Mountain.”
InRange’s investors include Lowercarbon Capital, Voyager, and Octopus Ventures.
“Cheap, clean energy is a no-brainer, but incentives aren’t always well aligned. InRange closes the gap, making clean energy both the most seamless and affordable choice,” said Clea Kolster, partner at Lowercarbon Capital.
Iron Mountain has 21 data centers in North America, APAC, and Europe. In 2021, the company said it intended to go carbon-free, and tracks its carbon hourly using a service from carbon accounting firm Cleartrace.
The company has signed a similar rooftop solar deal with Sunrock in the Netherlands, drawing power from a 4MW solar system deployed at the harbor of Rotterdam atop several warehouses.
