Olkaria data center project in Naivasha remains part of Kenya’s ambition to establish a major renewable-powered digital infrastructure hub. The US$600 million development targets a 60MW hyperscale campus within KenGen’s Green Energy Park. Unlike the stalled Microsoft-G42 facility, the project focuses on a smaller and more defined capacity. It also plans to use geothermal electricity from the surrounding Olkaria complex.
The development gained importance as Kenya expanded its push for green industrialisation. The Green Energy Park now enjoys Customs Controlled Area status. This designation provides qualifying investors with tax and customs incentives under Kenya’s Special Economic Zone framework.
Olkaria Data Center Project advances within green energy park
The project is associated with EcoCloud and Konza Technopolis Development Authority. The original development plan valued the investment at US$600 million.
The planned campus comprises three data centre areas with a combined 60MW IT load. The first campus targets 24MW and includes 2,640 racks. The second campus also targets 24MW, while the third provides 12MW.
Furthermore, the facility will support hyperscale cloud computing and artificial intelligence workloads. Multiple fibre routes will provide connectivity between the campus and regional networks.
Each data centre building will include several Meet-Me-Rooms for carrier connectivity. The design also incorporates rooftop solar generation, electric vehicle charging and rainwater harvesting.
The campus forms part of KenGen’s wider Green Energy Park development at Olkaria. The park provides access to geothermal electricity, supporting energy-intensive industrial developments.
KenGen has continued strengthening the park’s investment framework. In June 2026, authorities gazetted the facility as a Customs Controlled Area. The move activates tax and customs incentives for eligible investors.
Olkaria Data Center Project faces changing market conditions
However, Kenya’s data centre landscape has changed significantly since the Olkaria project was first announced.
The $1 billion Microsoft-G42 data centre planned for Olkaria has stalled. The facility initially targeted 100MW before potentially scaling towards 1GW. Kenya’s government struggled to support the project’s enormous electricity requirements.
President William Ruto previously highlighted the challenge of supplying power to such a large facility. The project’s potential 1GW requirement represented roughly one-third of Kenya’s installed generation capacity.
The Microsoft-G42 project also encountered disagreements over government payment guarantees. Microsoft and G42 sought annual capacity-payment guarantees from Kenya. However, negotiations failed to produce the requested commitment.
That setback creates a different context for the 60MW EcoCloud development. Its smaller capacity could offer a more manageable model for Kenya’s electricity and digital infrastructure systems.
Meanwhile, Kenya continues expanding renewable generation. The country recently raised its power ambitions and plans further investment in geothermal, nuclear and hydropower generation.
Olkaria Data Center Project reinforces Africa’s AI infrastructure race
The project also fits into Africa’s accelerating data centre expansion. AI workloads are increasing demand for reliable electricity, high-capacity connectivity and specialised computing facilities.
Egypt, for example, is pursuing a $1 billion AI data center capable of reaching 200MW. That development will use Nvidia technologies and support sovereign AI computing. The contrasting projects show how African markets are pursuing different approaches to AI infrastructure and power supply.
For Kenya, Olkaria offers a distinctive advantage through direct access to geothermal energy. The Green Energy Park’s new customs status could further strengthen its attractiveness to data center investors.
The project’s success will nevertheless depend on financing, power availability, connectivity and firm construction commitments. Those factors will determine whether the 60MW campus progresses from its planned configuration into full operational capacity.
KenGen Energy Park
KenGen Green Energy Park is emerging as a leading destination for investment. This is because the location offers abundant, Reliable Green Energy. The park is located within the Olkaria Geothermal Complex which grants it direct access to 100% renewable, stable, and affordable geothermal energy. This feature makes it a major draw for energy-intensive industries like Data Centres and electric mobility manufacturing. In relation to this a Kenyan company has also broken ground on an EV plant in the green energy park.
Reported September 11, 2023
Olkaria Data Center has recently broken ground as KenGen recently kicked off plans of establishing a 4000-acre green energy park which will be based in Olkaria in Naivasha and is anticipated to offer cheaper, quite abundant, and steady supply of geothermal power supply to industries in the country. According to the Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum, Mr. Davis Chirchir, he stated that this development of the smart city industrial park by KenGen is anticipated to facilitate the development of the economy by tapping and supplying environment-friendly geothermal power that will be at a competitive price. He also added on by saying that Olkaria is strategically placed along roads that have been developed well and the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) generates 1,000MW of geothermal power and industries will be able to acquire power from there.
Chirchir also stated that the Government of Kenya had already finished a masterplan development on 1,000 acres of the 4,000 which will enable guiding of the initial development with an objective of achieving 100% environment-friendly energy by the year 2030. As for now, Kenya uses 92% of its power acquired from green and renewable energy sources. The government has also set plans to achieve 100% transformation to the use of clean energy by the year 2030. In order for this goal to be achieved, Mr Chirchir stated that the Kenyan government had invested heavily in the drilling and setting up of geothermal wells which are going to increase the megawatt capacity to the national grid.
Also read: Menengai Geothermal Power Project in Kenya Breaks Ground
This investment by Ecocloud and Konza Technopolis Development Authority which are the major investors of the first fully green-powered data center at the Green energy park is going to cost a total of $600 Million which is equivalent to Ksh87.3 Billion. Olkaria Data Center project which is referred to as Project Eagle has set goals of harnessing the power of data and data traffic that is found between the East Africa region and the rest of the world in an environmentally friendly manner and in a way that will be deemed economical.
Olkaria Data Center Capacity and Facilities
This 60-megawatt Hyperscale Olkaria Data Centre Campus will contain three different areas. Each area shall possess its very own distinctive feature. In campus 1, there shall be a large number of racks which will be a total of 2640 racks which will be providing support to its 24-megawatt load capacity of IT. In the second campus, there will be an IT load capacity of 24MW and lastly, the third campus will wind up the whole masterplan with a total of 12MW of IT load.
Olkaria Data Center project has captured the attention of key players in the data sectors like Google, Amazon Web Service, and Oracle. The data campus is connected via numerous carrier routes of fiber and also supplied by a large number of carrier fibers at multiple entry points which have the ability to extend just in case a future need for carriers might arise. Moreover, every data center building possesses up to 4 separate Meet-Me-Rooms which are designed exclusively for hyperscale-ready connectivity. Lastly, there are also quite a number of sustainability features in the Data Center design which include Rooftop Solar power generation, EV charging points, minimal water usage, and rainwater harvesting.
Project Fact Sheet
Name: Olkaria Data Center Project
Location: Olkaria, Naivasha, Nakuru County, Kenya
Value: $600 million
Planned capacity: 60MW
Type: Hyperscale data centre campus
Primary energy source: Geothermal power
Development setting: KenGen Green Energy Park
First campus capacity: 24MW IT load
Second campus capacity: 24MW IT load
Third campus capacity: 12MW IT load
Rack capacity: 2,640 racks in the first campus
Connectivity: Multiple carrier fibre routes
Sustainability features: Rooftop solar, EV charging and rainwater harvesting
Regulatory status: Green Energy Park gazetted as a Customs Controlled Area in 2026
Strategic purpose: Support cloud computing, AI and regional digital services
Current context: Separate from the stalled Microsoft-G42 1GW data centre proposal
Project Team
Developer: EcoCloud Data Centre
Development partner: Konza Technopolis Development Authority
Energy partner: Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen)
Site host: KenGen Green Energy Park
Government facilitator: Government of Kenya
Technology ecosystem: Google, Amazon Web Services and Oracle have shown interest in the wider Olkaria data centre opportunity
Connectivity infrastructure: Multiple fibre network carriers
Regulatory framework: Kenya Special Economic Zones framework
Leave a Reply