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Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) and Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA) have broken ground on KenGen’s Green Energy Park in Olkaria, Nakuru Country, northwest of the capital Nairobi.

Spanning 845 acres, the development will comprise industrial and non-industrial facilities including offices, data centres, research and development buildings, hospitality spaces, a visitor experience centre, and administrative and commercial facilities. The park will be developed in four phases between 2025 and 2045.

KoTDA, the first investor, plans to establish a data centre at the park.

“The partnership with @konzatech and the initiation of the @KenGenKenya Green Energy Park represents the first step towards a new era of industrialization, one that places environmental sustainability at its core.” KenGen Board Chairman, @HonMigos. #GreenEnergyKE ^EM pic.twitter.com/l9HeNX0lU7

— KenGenKenya (@KenGenKenya) August 31, 2023

The Green Energy Park will be powered by geothermal energy. Olkaria is the centre of KenGen’s geothermal operations. Its power plants in Olkaria have a combined capacity of about 800MW. 

The park's tenants will be provided with a high quality and reliable energy supply through a plug-and-play environment including access to electricity, high-pressure steam and brine. 

Speaking during the groundbreaking ceremony on 31 August, Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum Davis Chirchir said KenGen will sell power to firms setting up at the park at 7 US cents, which is “probably the most competitive price of energy anywhere in the world today”.

During the ceremony, KenGen and KoTDA launched the construction of the Olkaria EcoCloud Tier IV data centre, which will be built across 100 acres. 

KenGen and @KonzaTech is today breaking ground for a Tier IV Data Centre at @KenGenKenya’s Green Energy Park in Olkaria, in a move set to spur industrialization in the geothermal region. #KenGenGreenEnergyPark #GreenEnergyKE ^EM pic.twitter.com/1g1MlSFZcD

— KenGenKenya (@KenGenKenya) August 31, 2023

The data centre will be powered by a mix of geothermal and solar energy to ensure reliable electricity supply and redundancy. It will also feature cooling technologies that utilise water from Lake Naivasha and harvested rainwater, further reducing its environmental footprint.

The 60MW hyperscale data campus will be divided into three areas to be developed in phases. Campuses 1 and 2 will each have an IT load capacity of 24MW, while Campus 3 have 12MW of capacity. Each data centre building will house two data halls with a total IT load capacity of 6MW. There will also be meeting rooms, offices and a conference centre.

The data centre will offer high security and will be easily accessible by road and air, with an executive heliport and electric vehicle shuttle services connecting to Nairobi.

Top photo: Groundbreaking ceremony (Source: Twitter/X @KenGenKenya)