BBS: TELESC.NET.BR
Assunto: MS's Kenya data center project
De: Mike Powell
Data: Sun, 17 May 2026 08:23:38 -0500
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Microsoft's $1 billion Kenya AI data center project hits a major hurdle as
the government says it would require switching off 'half the country' to meet
power needs
Date:
Sun, 17 May 2026 01:05:00 +0000
Description:
Microsoft and G42 data center plans in Kenya face power capacity constraints
as the national grid struggles with electricity demand requirements
FULL STORY
A proposed Microsoft 1-gigawatt data center in
Kenya would demand so much electricity that the nation simply cannot supply
that power.
Microsoft and Abu Dhabi-based G42 announced the project in May 2024 during
President Rutos official visit to Washington DC, promising a
geothermal-powered cloud region in the Olkaria area of Kenyas Rift Valley
region. However Kenyan President William Ruto recently told a Nairobi
audience that running this facility would force a terrible national choice.
Kenya goes dark if the data center comes up -- "We would need to switch off
half the country for the data center to be powered," President Ruto said.
The stark reality is that Kenya lacks enough spare megawatts for this
ambitious technology project; its entire power grid cannot even handle the
facilitys enormous electricity appetite.
Kenyas total national installed capacity sits between 3,000 and 3,200
megawatts from all sources combined.
Its peak electricity demand already reached 2,444 megawatts in January 2025,
during regular daily usage across the country, meaning a full 1-gigawatt data
center would consume roughly one-third of the nations total power supply.
Even the first 100-megawatt phase would drain a significant share from the
Olkaria geothermal complex, which currently produces only 950 megawatts
across all its individual power plants working together.
No extra capacity exists for such a massive new electricity user anywhere on
the Kenyan grid. No solution in sight John Tanui, principal secretary at
Kenya's Ministry of Information, told Bloomberg that the project has not been
formally withdrawn from consideration yet.
He claims both parties are still discussing the project, because the scale of
the data center they wanted to do still requires some structuring.
The Kenyan government will not shut off half the country for any single
private facility operating within its borders.
Microsoft refuses to accept less power than its original billion-dollar plan
demanded for that specific location.
A separate 60-megawatt project with local developer EcoCloud remains under
active discussion right now as a smaller alternative, but the main
billion-dollar Olkaria proposal is stalled over capacity disagreements and
missing electrical infrastructure across Kenya.
Microsoft spent $1.5 billion on G42 in 2024 after G42 agreed to remove Huawei
equipment under American pressure.
Microsoft president, Brad Smith, called the Kenya project the single biggest
step forward for digital technology in the country's history - however, a
step that demands a third of a nation's electricity may not be a real step
forward for Kenyan citizens.
A data center cannot be called progressive if it requires every other user to
switch off their lights.
Nearly half of the US data center builds this year have been delayed or
cancelled due to power shortages - and if Western economies are cancelling
data centers due to power shortages, Africa, with its growing infrastructure
needs, is likely not a region for power-hungry data center projects.
Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/microsofts-usd1-billion-kenya-ai-data-center-pro
ject-hits-a-major-hurdle-as-the-government-says-it-would-require-switching-off
-half-the-country-to-meet-power-needs
$$
--- MultiMail/DOS
* Origin: Capitol City Hub (1:2320/105)
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