The Middle East and Africa green data center market account for around 10% of the overall data center market in the region. The region, primarily Africa-based countries, has been slow in adopting efficiency in operations due to lower fund availability. However, investment is expected to grow with more funding flowing into the industry and global operators entering the market.
Colocation operators in the Middle East and Africa green data center market, such as Equinix, Moro Hub, Digital Realty, Gulf Data Hub, and Rack Centre, have been investing in efficient operations to achieve their sustainability goals.
Innovations in green operations are also being explored. For instance, Saudi Arabia is exploring free cooling using salt and sunlight, wherein this electricity-free cooling technique is being developed at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).
The increased hyperscale data centers in the region and the need to power the facilities with renewable energy will also be a significant revenue boost for renewable energy suppliers and energy companies.
As Lithium and Nickel are essential innovations in batteries, the gulf countries, primarily Saudi Arabia, are investing in mining. It has planned to attract investment of around USD 32 billion in the minerals and mining sectors.
Lepidico, an Australian company, collaborates with Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD) for lithium production in the Middle East. It has acquired over 600,000 square feet of land, aiming to invest around USD 95 million to set up its plants in Abu Dhabi.
To grow the usage of green energy, in August 2021, an investment of over USD 1 million was made by I-G3N, a battery manufacturer in South Africa.
In March 2022, Siemens announced that it would provide the first microgrid in Qatar, mostly for industrial use. It has collaborated with Qatar Solar Energy for its establishment. It will ultimately lessen the electricity cost and control greenhouse emissions at its facility in Doha.
Google, AWS, Microsoft, Alibaba Cloud, and Oracle are some hyperscale operators in the Middle East and Africa region. They are all aggressively pursuing the adoption of renewable energy to meet their sustainability goals. For instance, in July 2021, AWS signed a deal with TotalEnergies to power its renewable energy operations and expanded its partnership in various regions, including the Middle East.
Equinix, Africa Data Centres, Rack Centre, Moro Hub, Gulf Data Hub, Khazna Data Centers, and Digital Realty are some significant data center service providers operating using renewable energy and aiming to be carbon neutral in the Middle East and Africa green data center market.