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US IT giant Microsoft and artificial intelligence company G42 are to build an "eco-friendly" data centre in Kenya. Costing $1 billion, the project is being developed on the Olkaria geothermal site and is backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
It is one of the outcomes of Kenyan President William Samoei Ruto’s recent state visit to the United States of America. As part of the bilateral talks, the Kenyan delegation witnessed the signing of a letter of intent between US IT giant Microsoft and G42, an artificial intelligence (AI) company based in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
As part of this private partnership backed by the Kenyan, UAE and US governments, G42 and Microsoft will work on developing and researching AI models in the local language, as well as setting up an innovation laboratory to provide training in digital AI skills. The agreement also includes investments in connectivity in collaboration with Kenya’s Ministry of Information, Communications and Digital Economy to “support safe and secure cloud services across East Africa”, Microsoft says.
Building an “eco-friendly” data centre in the Rift Valley
This partnership will “bring together three countries with a shared vision of a nation empowered by technology, where every citizen has the opportunity to thrive in the global digital landscape. This is about building a future where Kenya flourishes as a digital leader,” said Kenyan President William Samoei Ruto. To enable the development of Kenya’s digital economy, G42 and Microsoft will invest $1 billion in a data centre.
The storage infrastructure, known for its energy consumption, will be located in the Rift Valley, more specifically in Olkaria, in western Kenya. With a capacity of 1 GW, the installation will be powered entirely by electricity produced by geothermal power plants. The choice of Olkaria in Nakuru County is not insignificant, since it is a very active geothermal area.
The contribution of geothermal energy
It is also the epicentre of geothermal energy production in Kenya, with installed capacity of just over 800 MWe. The geothermal potential of the entire Kenyan Rift Valley is estimated at 10,000 MWe. G42 will be relying on clean, renewable electricity to build and operate the future data centre.
According to its director Peng Xiao, the digital infrastructure will be equipped with cutting-edge water conservation technology. The data centre will run on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud application platform equipped with 4 million computer servers. Scheduled to go live in 24 months, it will improve access to the cloud in Kenya and the rest of East Africa. |
