Sustainable data centres in Africa, supporting the local economies and digital transformation in the region

Background

In March 2021, Meridiam partnered with Roha Africa to co-develop a platform of carrier-neutral, co-location data centres of international (Tier III) standard across Africa under the “Raxio” brand. The Project consists of the design, finance, construction and O&M of 10 sites (all modular data centres except for Uganda).

The project is developed in the context of the African economies leapfrogging and becoming increasingly digitalized thereby driving up the demand for the use of data centres, while available local capacity remains under-developed. The offerings cater the specific needs of financial services, telecoms, cloud service providers, corporates as well as government agencies.

The platform’s first site in Uganda opened in May 2021. The Ugandan site is located in Kampala Industrial and Business Park (KIBP) and will have a total IT load of 1.5 MW. The platform expects further data centres (c. 1.5MW each) to be built across at least six countries over the next few years.

Stage

Commercial Close

ESG/SDG Key Facts

Raxio has an up-to-date E&S Risk Assessment (based on IFC Performance Standards) in place. A group E&S and Sustainability Officer was hired in Q4 2022 and has been focusing on building E&S frameworks and finalising key E&S deliverables in the context of the senior debt financing. The project maintains good relations with key local stakeholders in each of its markets by building its network of data centres with a focus on environmental sustainability and with the objective of driving technological advancement in the region, Raxio delivers impact across a wide range of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), most notably SDG 8, 9 and 11.

In particular, Raxio is paying close attention at maximising the energy, carbon and water efficiencies of its design:

• Raxio’s data centres are designed with a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1.3-1.35 which benchmarks well not only for Africa but also globally. Grid capacity is generally available in the locations of the first sites, where the vast majority of power production is coming from hydro.
• As part of Raxio’s effort to ensure the deployment of environmentally friendly backup power solution for countries with less grid-up time, it was able to obtain a PIDG technical assistance grant to conduct a study on the feasibility of renewables.
• With Meridiam support, Raxio will also start in developing a low-carbon development charter and associated process in coming months.
• Raxio’s site design utilises an Indirect Adiabatic Cooling (IAC), a cooling method which is overall more environmentally friendly than Computer Room Air Conditioning unit systems found in many data centres (and most DCs in Africa) which use refrigerant gases having a polluting effect. The locations being targeted typically benefit from unused ground water, which is unfit for consumption by humans and animals.
• To date, the Ugandan project has created more than 200 employment opportunities for local community members during the civil works and M&E kit out phases, with knowledge transfer of new technologies