Digital Realty has deployed rooftop and parking lot solar at its data center campus in Zurich, Switzerland.

“We’re proud to share the first glimpse of our brand-new solar panel installations at the Digital Realty Zurich campus,” the company said on LinkedIn this week.

“This milestone reflects our commitment to driving sustainable innovation and reducing our environmental footprint, while continuing to deliver world-class data center services to our customers.”

Digital told DCD that the deployment includes 73kWp of installed panels on ZUR1; 121kWp of installed panels on the roof; 93kWp on the car ports of ZUR2; and 90kWp of installed panels on ZUR3 – for a total of 377kWp. Each facility includes a 110kW inverter, ready for further solar expansion on the vertical walls.

The company hopes to reach as much as 1MW in the future, including facade expansions on the south walls of the buildings.

Located on the same campus, the three buildings total around 25,000 sqm (269,100 sq ft) of colocation space. In operation since 2000 and upgraded several times, ZUR1 offers 5MW across 7,400 sqm (79,800 sq ft). Construction on ZUR2 began in 2019 and launched around 2020.

Digital (via Interxion) announced plans for ZUR3 in 2020; the first of three phases was set to launch in mid-2022 and offer 2,900 sqm (31,215 sq ft) of space. Now live, at full build-out, ZUR3 will span 11,000 sqm (118,500 sq ft) and 24MW of capacity. Plans for ZUR4 were announced in 2023.

Digital Realty told DCD earlier this year it had 19 sites hosting behind-the-meter solar installations totaling 9.8MW capacity globally, including at sites in Australia, India, Singapore, South Africa, and Kenya. The company tells us it has an “additional roadmap to continue to grow, with additional projects in the planning or construction stage.”

Most of the company’s deployments are fairly small, often in the 100kW range and covering less than one percent of a facility’s load. That figure can go as high as 20 percent in Kenya at its icolo facilities, though these are relatively small in terms of overall capacity. The company also has deployments in markets in Europe and in Singapore. In South Africa, its Teraco unit has approximately 6MW of rooftop solar across its sites in Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban.

“[Solar] is certainly an important consideration,” Aaron Binkley, VP, sustainability at Digital Realty, said at the time. “It’s a key part of our approach on building, powering, and operating sustainable data centers.”

Solar in parking lots – known as canopy solar – or panels on the sides of buildings, are less common. Facade solar can be more expensive and difficult to maintain, while canopy solar can impact existing underground infrastructure if not placed correctly.