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State to set up Africa's green energy data centre in Naivasha

President William Ruto when he met Microsoft President Brad Smith, G42 CEO Pang Xiao and Eco-Cloud officials at State House. (X/President William Ruto)

By Waweru Wairimu | 24 Apr 2024

The data centre will leverage on the government's digital superhighway which is among the pillars of President Ruto's bottom-up economic agenda.

Kenya is set to attract global technology companies following plans to construct a green energy-powered data centre in Naivasha, Nakuru County, that will serve the entire Africa.

The one-gigawatt centre will be constructed through a partnership between the Kenyan government, Microsoft Eco-Cloud and G42 Investment Group.

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President William Ruto Wednesday met Microsoft President Brad Smith, G42 CEO Pang Xiao and Eco-Cloud officials at State House to finalize plans for the establishment of the centre that he termed as a "revolutionary investment that will enhance efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery and also create jobs".

KENYA will begin the construction of a one Gigawatt (1GW) Data Centre in Naivasha.

The Data centre that will serve Africa will be constructed in partnership with Microsoft, Eco-Cloud, and G42 investment group.

The facility will be a revolutionary investment powered by green… pic.twitter.com/ZyRGr7nsaa
— William Samoei Ruto, PhD (@WilliamsRuto) April 24, 2024

A data centre is a large group of networked computer servers typically used by organisations for the remote storage, processing or distribution of large amounts of information.

With more than 70 per cent of the country's grid power being from green energy, the environmentally friendly data centre is expected to attract data organisations that are increasingly opting for sites already operating on 100 per cent renewable energy.

By doing so, the firms are aiding in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere that are blamed for increased global warming.

The facility will be a build-up to the Eco-Cloud Data Centre located at KenGen Industrial Park in Naivasha and which is the first to be powered by geothermal renewable energy from Olkaria.

The data centre will leverage on the government's digital superhighway which is among the pillars of President Ruto's bottom-up economic agenda.

Some Sh2.8 billion has already been set aside to improve digital connectivity across the country focusing on the laying 100,000 kilometres of fibre cables, installation of WI-FI hotspots in 25, 000 identified areas and setting up of digital innovation hubs across all the 1450 wards.