Olkaria EcoCLOUD Data Centre: Data centres have faced scrutiny about their environmental impact in recent years. Their rapid expansion has continued to raise concerns about their environmental impact, particularly in terms of energy consumption, carbon emissions, and waste generation.
Over the years though a number of firms around the world have tried to make their data centers more eco-friendly. In Kenya, KenGen and Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA) just broke the ground for the Ecocloud Data Centre located at the KenGen Smart Industrial Park in Naivasha.
The data center is being built in partnership with a number of local investors and will be 100% powered by Geothermal renewable energy.
The facility will directly benefit from the 953 Megawatts of Geothermal Power Generation capacity at Olkaria and will be the first major investment at the newly created KenGen Smart Industrial Park to fully utilize green, reliable and sustainable power.
Olkaria EcoCLOUD Data Centre CEO, Eng. Amos Siwoi said, “As we embark on this momentous journey together, this endeavour underscores our commitment to embracing a technologically advanced and sustainable future in a responsible manner’’
‘’This project is not just about bricks and mortar or data servers; it’s about the future. The Olkaria EcoCloud Data Centre will be a beacon of sustainability and a hub for innovation within the African continent”.
The data centre project, dubbed Project Eagle aims to harness the power of data and data traffic between East Africa and the rest of the world in an eco-friendly and economical manner.
Cabinet Secretary Ministry of ICT and Digital Economy Eliud Owalo who was also present during the ground-breaking ceremony, noted that there is a need to build more secure storage centres for data in the country.
“This project is very timely as it goes a long way to supporting government efforts of digitization, we need adequate data centres for secure storage as we make the progress towards a digital future for all government services and enhance digital literacy among our youth.”
The 60-megawatt Hyperscale Data Centre Campus spans three distinct areas, each with its own unique features. Campus 1 alone will accommodate an astounding number of racks – precisely 2640 racks – to support its 24-megawatt IT Load capacity. Campus 2 mirrors this with an additional 24 megawatts of IT Load while Campus 3 completes the masterplan with a final 12 megawatts of IT Load.
The project has attracted the interest from key players in the data sector including Google, Amazon Web service, Oracle, VMWare and Jamii Telecommunications who were also present at the event.
The campus is connected through diverse carrier fiber routes supplied by multiple fiber carriers at multiple points-of-entries that can be extended to ensure maximum path diversity for incoming carriers. Each Data Centre building has up to four separate Meet-Me-Rooms, designed explicitly for hyperscale-ready connectivity.
Additional Sustainability Features in the Data Centre design include Rooftop Solar power generation, minimal water usage, Rainwater harvesting, and EV charging points for shuttles to Nairobi.
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