Africa Data Centres breaks ground on new Nairobi facility

Africa Data Centres (ADC) has broken ground on its new facility in Nairobi, Kenya. The new facility, set to be built in the company’s leading-edge modular design, will expand its existing data centre by up to 15MW of IT load.

ADC is a business of Cassava Technologies, a pan-African technology group. It said the expansion at the new site will be completed in the first half of 2024 and will bring five times more capacity than is currently installed.

“We believe that data centres will play a significant role in digital transformation and economic growth on our continent. Without them, the push towards a digital economy in Africa will be missing a key pillar.

“Our decision to increase our investment in our data centres in Kenya is in recognition of the position the country now occupies as a leader in the adoption of digital technologies in Africa,” said Hardy Pemhiwa, group president and chief executive of Cassava Technologies.

During the ground-breaking ceremony, Tesh Durvasula, CEO of Africa Data Centres, said, “The expansion will enable Africa Data Centre clients to grow and scale depending on their requirements.

“They can start small, increase to a medium capacity, and even benefit from a hyperscale type of deployment in a few years if they choose to. This will enable customers to operate multiple deployments across our sites with a single operations team, campus, and infrastructure they are familiar with.”

Kenya pioneered mobile money, and today boasts of a wide range of incubators and tech start-ups, a clear sign of an innovative tech culture. The focus on Kenya as a key region aims to take the region further into the digital era and uplift the country’s profile globally as an attractive investment destination for international cloud providers, hyperscalers, and other ICT companies.

Durvasula stressed that sustainability is at the heart of everything ADC does. In terms of cooling, even as the largest network of interconnected, carrier- and cloud-neutral data centre facilities on the continent, the company has a strict policy of not using adiabatic systems. “We do not use water in any of our cooling systems and are one of the few colocation providers who have taken this step,” he said.

While the common belief might be that water and adiabatic systems are more efficient than air cooling systems, this simply is not the case. “With the newest technology, if free-cooling capacity is maximised, it becomes far more efficient and saves water which is becoming a critical commodity, particularly in Africa.”

Durvasula added that ADC is fortunate in Kenya as almost 70% of grid power is from green energy sources. “This helps us to meet our sustainability objectives because we understand no organisation can achieve zero carbon emissions by itself.

“We understand that sustainability is about ensuring that we conduct ourselves in a manner that minimises our impact on the environment. We extend this ethos to all of our partners, and constantly look for ways to ensure that all elements of the business contribute positively to the sustainability of the planet.”

The latest announcement is a step forward in the company’s expansion plans announced in 2021, which will see Africa Data Centres investing $500 million into building hyperscale data centres across Africa with the support of the US Development Finance Corporation.

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