The impact of data centres on Africa's energy future

AS someone who has spent years working at the intersection of energy policy, infrastructure development, and stakeholder engagement, I have seen how critical energy access and reliability are to economic growth.

- DREW BIEMER

In Africa, where energy poverty remains a barrier to prosperity, the conversation about new infrastructure often focuses on traditional generation and distribution. But we should also be asking: are data centres a viable catalyst for economic transformation and greater energy security? I believe the answer is yes - if we think strategically.

At first glance, data centres might seem like a luxury reserved for highly developed economies. After all, they are energy-intensive, built to serve digital economies that depend on cloud services, financial transactions, logistics, and communications. However, framing data centres only as high-end infrastructure misses their potential to drive much broader development goals.

First, data centres offer an opportunity to stimulate local economies. Their operation require skilled labour across multiple sectors - electrical, mechanical, IT, and security - and they encourage the development of a more specialized workforce. Data centres need ongoing maintenance, operations staff, and support services, which create stable, long-term jobs. In markets like Africa, where unemployment is high, building this kind of workforce ecosystem can have a profound multiplier effect across communities.