Schneider Electric, leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation, has partnered with Digital Realty, the largest global provider of cloud and carrier-neutral data center, colocation and interconnection solutions, to deliver an innovative circular economy initiative at its PAR6 data center in Paris.

The project aims to prolong and maintain the life of the mission-critical systems at PAR6, including its Schneider Electric Low Voltage (LV) and Medium-Voltage (MV) electrical equipment, switchgear and three-phase uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), in line with Digital Realty’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) commitments.

This includes the ability to reuse key pieces of its electrical infrastructure and components, while initiating new take-back, recycle and refurbish programs to help reduce the company’s e-waste, its Scope 3 emissions, and removing high impact greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as SF6. Additionally, this innovative initiative, which includes a plan to undertake an industry-first battery rejuvenation assessment to extend the lifecycle of its VRLA UPS batteries will adhere to circular economy principles. The ambition is to create a roadmap that enables Digital Realty to replicate, deploy and scale-up its circularity initiatives across its sites in Europe.

Over the next 3-5 years, the circularity project is expected to help Digital Realty save and avoid 50%-70% of the embodied carbon within its LV, MV and three-phase UPS equipment, while prolonging equipment lifecycles and enabling Digital Realty to improve its environmental impact.

“We are constantly adapting our strategy and operations to meet the challenges of sustainable development: the circularity of equipment, in this case electrical equipment, is one of the major levers for decarbonizing our activities and our value chain. This is where our collaboration with Schneider Electric, a partner of over 20 years, really comes into its own,” said Fabrice Coquio, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Digital Realty in France. “Being a good global citizen isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s good business sense, and as we move forwards, our ambition is to help customers meet and exceed their environmental goals by leveraging our services.”