from MARIA MACHARIA in Nairobi, Kenya
Kenya Bureau
NAIROBI, (CAJ News) – KENYA has launched its first environmental friendly data centre relying wholly on renewable geothermal energy.
The Olkaria EcoCLOUD Data Centre will be located at the KenGen Smart Industrial Park in Naivasha.
This data centre 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 industrial park to fully utilize green, reliable and sustainable power.
The data centre project 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.
Musalia Mudavadi, the Prime Cabinet Secretary, presided over the groundbreaking ceremony.
“The momentous project intertwines technology and sustainability propelling Kenya into the forefront of the digital era and shaping the country into a greener smarter future,” Mudavadi said.
Eliud Owalo, Cabinet Secretary: Ministry of ICT and Digital Economy, noted that the government had embarked on an ambitious programme of turning Kenya into a digital economy, hence the need to build more secure storage centres for data.
“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 progress towards a digital future for all government services and enhance digital literacy among our youth,” Owalo said.
The 60 MW data centre spans three distinct campuses, each with its own unique features.
One will accommodate 2 640 racks to support its 24 MW IT load capacity. Another mirrors this with an additional 24 MW of IT load and the third completes the masterplan with a final 12 MW of IT load.
Amos Siwoi, Chief Executive Officer of Olkaria EcoCLOUD Data Centre, underscored their 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,” he said.
– CAJ News