D A T A C E N T R E P R E D I C T I O N S
in Kenya . In South Africa , Africa Data Centres and Distributed Power Africa broke ground on a 12MW solar farm in April .
Until recently , businesses in Nigeria have been somewhat hesitant to explore the potential of solar plus storage due to its higher capital expenditure in comparison to fossil fuels . However , while fuel prices have levelled somewhat since the 1,000 Naira highs of 2023 , it seems unlikely that it will settle back down below 750 Naira without a new subsidy to prop up petrol prices or a period of economic stagnation .
This change in dynamics means that solar plus storage has become much more economical in comparison to its fossil fuel counterparts . Particularly if data centre operators sign up to a long-term Power Purchase Agreement ( PPA ) of 15-20 years .
One of the key challenges often levelled at solar and wind is that of its need for space . While data centres typically need to be close to urban areas to afford fast and reliable connections , renewable generation requires space . However , as the solar and data centre industries have developed there are now several potential workarounds .
Renewable PPAs
Renewable electricity can be purchased under a PPA from an offsite generator . Such an agreement would provide the data centre operator with a guaranteed price per kWh creating energy price security while alleviating local grid constraints . In 2023 , 46GW of wind and solar PPAs were announced publicly by businesses , according to BNEF , with the market growing around 33 % on average since 2015 .
Colocating Edge data centres with solar
Data centre operators could opt to blend hyperscale facilities with Edge data centres . Located on the outskirts of town , Edge data centres have much smaller footprints and lower energy needs . Some of these data centres could be colocated with on-site renewable generation . With some clever design work – for example , incorporating solar into carports – a significant amount of the data centre ’ s electricity baseload could be covered by solar plus storage .
Rooftop solar for inner city locations
Inner city data centre locations could mount rooftop solar as well as batteries that would charge from the grid and supply emergency electricity in the event of an outage . Although this would only cover a small percentage of the power required , it would soften gridrelated price and outage shocks .
More than just connectivity
The positive economic impact of improved connectivity is well documented , for example , a 10 % increase in mobile adoption increases GDP by 0.5 % to 1.2 % on average . Banking is a great example of how connectivity has transformed the lives of Africans with the continent now considered the digital banking leader having brought banking to millions of people who lack access to traditional services .
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