A quarter of the way into the 21st century, digital technology has infiltrated the daily lives of billions of people to an incredible degree across the globe – but not everywhere … yet.
By NJ Ayuk, executive chairman of the African Energy Chamber
As digital penetration rapidly nears 100% in many parts of the world, the fastest-growing markets are in developing countries where even simple electricity is hardly an assured thing.
Perhaps the greatest potential is in the African market, where penetration remains shallow and demand is skyrocketing. Simply put, there’s nowhere to go but up.
Although electrification has been stubbornly slow to spread across the continent thus far, internet usage is expanding at extraordinary rates.
The Global System Operators and Manufacturers Association’s (GSMA) Mobile Economy Report 2023 estimated that smartphone adoption in sub-Saharan Africa would rise from 51% in 2022 to 87% in 2030, driven by rising youth populations and more competitive mobile pricing.
The same report predicted a near-quadrupling of data usage per mobile by 2028, from 4,6GB per user per month to 18GB.
Every one of those phones that loads a search engine, a shopping site, or a business app these days is adding to that computing load, and that’s just the mobile sector.
Advances in financial technology are creating new opportunities for African businesses to thrive, and artificial intelligence is fast invading every facet of the internet.
Generative AI and machine learning applications consume up to 10-times more energy than traditional searches, making all that growth orders of magnitude more expensive.
So far, data centres in Europe have mostly been able to handle Africa’s needs. As African businesses and consumers increasingly demand faster speeds and lower latency, however, the need is quickly growing for more localised computing infrastructure.
As of mid-2025, Africa has 223 data centres spread across 38 countries – less than 0,02% of the world’s total of more than 11 800.
South Africa has the most with 56, followed by Kenya with 19 and Nigeria with 17, meaning 41% of Africa’s data centre infrastructure is currently concentrated in these three countries.
In “The State of African Energy: 2026 Outlook Report,” the African Energy Chamber (AEC) posits that development of cloud infrastructure in these key markets could serve as nuclei to accelerate growth across the continent.
Growing concerns over data sovereignty are also spurring some nations to require that certain sensitive data stays in-country, further driving demand for local data centres.
The African data centre market was valued at $3,49-billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $6,81-billion by 2030, rising at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11,79%.
As a rule, data centres require a substantial and reliable supply of electricity – something Africa is not currently known for, with many countries facing frequent outages.
Nigeria is a prime example. The country’s 17 data centres – the third most in Africa – collectively require around 137MW of power capacity in 2025. Nigeria’s power grid is notorious for providing only around four hours of power per day, forcing data Celeste operators to make up the difference with diesel generators that raise costs and pollution levels.
Even around the capital city of Lagos, where Internet connectivity is highest and 14 of the data centres are concentrated, the grid is a constant source of uncertainty.
Overall, the AEC report states, Africa’s data centre power demand capacity is forecast to achieve a CAGR of 9% between 2024 and 2030 and hit 2GW by 2030.
The total data centre capacity globally, by comparison, is forecast to log a CAGR of 11% between 2024 and 2030, reaching 249GW by year-end 2030.
Adding in the power needed for cooling and other ancillary loads, the global total installed capacity is estimated at 374GW by 2030.
The relentless demand of data centres, however, functions as a great stabiliser for attracting socially responsible capital investment in the power infrastructure.
Predictably growing demand assures investors that money spent on expanding grids and developing new power generation centers will both improve lives and pay off economically.
The growth of data centres also often brings with it a push for innovative power solutions, including the integration of renewable energy sources and advanced grid management technologies.
Upgraded grids improve sustainability, bolster resilience, and expand the residential and commercial customer base, spreading out fixed costs and thereby reducing end users’ electricity prices over time.
In northern Africa, growing hubs such as Egypt and Morocco benefit from strategic positioning that connects Europe, Africa, and the Middle East to major Internet backbone lines.
Egypt offers affordable land and electricity prices, while Morocco is rapidly modernising its infrastructure and fostering a favorable legal environment for data centre growth.
Sub-Saharan Africa faces more challenges, but even here, many nations are stepping up efforts to meet the insatiable demand.
In South Africa, the largest market, there is particularly strong demand for facilities around Johannesburg and Cape Town. Johannesburg benefits from a diversified mix of wholesale and retail demand and both international and local providers.
South Africa is leading the continent in solar integration, with public-private projects like the 12MW solar farm being developed by Africa Data Centres and Distributed Power Africa.
Kenya’s grid is already over 60% renewable, including geothermal, solar, wind, and hydroelectric sources. The Naivasha geothermal zone, which supplies nearly half of the country’s power, will host a planned 100MW green data center, backed by a $1-billion investment by Microsoft and G42.
Such clean, non-intermittent power solutions give Kenya the ability to support data centers with both lower emissions and greater stability.
The Kenyan government also offers tax incentives for investments in special economic zones, including a 10% corporate tax exemption for the first 10 years, and over 15% after 10 years.
Smaller countries are getting in on the game as well. Côte d’Ivoire (currently home to six data centres) launched its largest solar power plant in Boundiali in June 2023, delivering 37,5MWp of capacity toward its national goal of sourcing 45% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2030.
West Africa’s largest wind project is the Taiba N’Diaye Wind Farm in Senegal (seven data centres), while Gabon (one data centre) is actively developing hydropower and attracting investment in solar hybrid systems.
Not every country will be able to confront the growing digital demand equally. Data centres are notoriously water-hungry due to the need to cool off huge banks of closely packed computers.
Nations with vast areas of desert and savannah can ill afford to have data centres compete for water with agriculture and may have to rely on their neighbors through the use of regional power pools as suggested in the AEC report.
Others with fewer renewable energy prospects will likely focus on developing more conventional energy sources such as oil and gas, which many have in great abundance.
Even those with strong renewable sectors would be wise to develop conventional energy to achieve the reliability that other parts of the world take for granted.
The AEC has long advocated the flexibility of natural gas to serve as a bridge fuel, alleviating shortages with quick ramp-up and ramp-down when renewable supplies fluctuate.
Electrification in Africa is a multi-pronged issue with many obstacles on the path to modernisation, but there is no doubt that there is a demand to be met.
Building and provisioning local data centres is a powerful step toward solving some of government’s most pressing problems in any nation: improving infrastructure, growing the economy and strengthening national security.
“The State of African Energy: 2026 Outlook Report” is available for download. Visit https://apo-opa.co/48Y4qkH to request your copy.