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General Electric President Jay Ireland said the Duration series batteries are generally designed to provide standby power to critical applications in the Telecom industry/FILE

Kenya

Another world first as Safaricom deploys GE batteries

General Electric President Jay Ireland said the Duration series batteries are generally designed to provide standby power to critical applications in the Telecom industry/FILE

General Electric President Jay Ireland said the Duration series batteries are generally designed to provide standby power to critical applications in the Telecom industry/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 23 – The global energy and technology firm General Electric (GE) on Monday signed a Sh96 million deal with Safaricom that will see the latter supplied with 48 General Electric Durathon Batteries to capacitate the Safaricom network to run efficiently during power outages.

General Electric President Jay Ireland said the Duration series batteries are generally designed to provide standby power to critical applications in the Telecom industry.

“It is one of the first batteries in the world to be designed for telecom applications and by using the batteries as the primary energy source in a continuous charge-discharge cycling (CDS) operating mode, fuel costs and emissions can be substantially reduced and overall system efficiency dramatic improved,” he said.

He noted that sustainable power supply continues to be one of Africa’s critical challenges and General Electric is committed to partnering with stakeholders to broaden the innovation play in Kenya and the rest of Africa.

“This battery is the first of its kind in Africa and Safaricom is the first mobile network operator globally to adopt this technology. We believe in a great future for Africa – this region and this country,” he said.

Safaricom’s Chief Technology Officer Thibaud Rerolle said the batteries, that hold backup power up to 10 hours, will be put in places where they do not have a diesel generator having procured batteries for 25 sites in Nairobi.

“Our primary energy source at Safaricom has been electricity from the national grid. Unfortunately the supply has been and has continued to be unpredictable,” Rerolle said.

The deal between the two firms is a clear indication that the private sector is committed to working together to deliver a world class economy for Kenya by 2030.

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