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AWS PLANS TO INVEST £ 8 BILLION IN THE UK
Amazon Web Services ( AWS ) plans to invest £ 8 billion over the next five years ( 2024 – 2028 ) in building , operating and maintaining data centres in the UK . This investment is part of the company ’ s long-term commitment to supporting growth and productivity across the country and is estimated to contribute £ 14 billion to the UK ’ s total Gross Domestic Product ( GDP ) through to 2028 .
It will also support an average of more than 14,000 full-time equivalent ( FTE ) jobs annually at local UK businesses .
These positions all form part of the AWS data centre supply chain , ranging from construction , facility maintenance , engineering , telecommunications and other jobs within the broader local economy .
AWS first launched an AWS Region in the UK in December 2016 , and over the last few years , the company has continued to expand the Region to include three Availability Zones ( AZ ), two WaveLength Zones , two Edge Locations and a Regional Edge Cache .
In fact , since the start of the decade ( 2020 – 2023 ), AWS has invested over £ 3 billion in the UK to help meet the growing needs of its customers . This investment is estimated to have supported an average of more than 6,000 FTE jobs at local businesses .
Combined with this announcement , it will bring AWS ’ s total planned investment in the UK from 2020 – 2028 to more than £ 11 billion .
Chancellor of the Exchequer , Rachel Reeves , said : “ This £ 8 billion Amazon Web Services investment marks the start of the economic revival and shows Britain is a place to do business . I welcome the announcement as part of the Government ’ s mission to boost growth , unlock investment and make every part of Britain better off .” iColo , a Digital Realty company , has announced a significant expansion of its renewable energy initiatives with the installation of solar panels at its facilities in Kenya , making it one of the greenest global connectivity hubs in the country .
The data centre operator has added and commissioned over 650kW of new solar installations across its two data centre campuses in Nairobi and Mombasa .
Over 450kW of this new solar capacity is available within iColo ’ s NBO campus , where over 60 national and global networks aggregate , and will support continued campus expansion . The nearly 200kW of remaining capacity will be utilised on iColo ’ s growing Miritini Mombasa campus .
facilities ’ power needs met by solar installations as part of its long-term goals .
iColo ’ s long-term plan is to align both campuses ’ growth with the addition of more solar capacity to meet the growing demand in the future . The company has three data centres in its master plan , including a captive substation , and is expected to consume over 20MW at full capacity .
The company ’ s second data centre in Nairobi , NBO2 , with an IT load of 6.5MW , is expected to come online in Q3 2025 .
According to the latest statistics report by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority ( EPRA ), Kenya ’ s power grid is significantly renewable with 82 % of its energy generation mix comprising renewable sources including geothermal , hydro and wind .
As part of its commitment to sustainable energy solutions , iColo is actively engaging in discussions to secure additional space for further solar installations , including greenfields , car parks and rooftops at all its campuses . iColo aims to have 25 % of its
ICOLO EXPANDS RENEWABLE ENERGY FOOTPRINT WITH INSTALLATION OF SOLAR PANELS IN KENYA
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