Our impact

Raxio data centres, pan-african

Sustainable data centres in Africa, supporting the local economies and digital transformation in the region

 

Background

 

In March 2021, Meridiam partnered with Roha Africa to co-develop a platform of carrier-neutral, co-location data centres of international (Tier III) standard across Africa under the “Raxio” brand. The objective is the design, finance, construction and O&M of 7 sites.

The investment is made in the context of the African economies leapfrogging and becoming increasingly digitalized thereby driving up the demand for the use of data centres, while available local capacity remains under-developed. The offerings cater the specific needs of financial services, telecoms, cloud service providers, corporates as well as government agencies. New sites are developed with a modular design to adapt to future client needs.

Financial close was achieved in April 2023 for the first $73m tranche of a wider, 13-year, $170m sustainability-linked senior debt package with Proparco and EAIF. The first tranche supports the first phases of the initial 7 sites with the additional amount available for expansions on these first sites (to go from 500kW to 1.5MW) as well as the construction of 3 other sites.

 

Stage

Financial Close

 

ESG/SDG Key Facts

Raxio has an up-to-date E&S Risk Assessment (based on IFC Performance Standards) in place. The Head of HSSE has been focusing on building E&S frameworks and finalising key E&S deliverables in the context of the senior debt financing. Uganda, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, DRC and Mozambique now have local EHS representatives overseeing the E&S activities of the sites and report to the Group E&S Manager for the ease of effective management. All sites under construction have obtained an environmental clearance. In preparation for the commencement of construction, the Angolan site is in the process of obtaining an environmental clearance as well. Raxio continues to provide an improved HSSE training for its partner site leads/site HSSE representatives/partner HSSE representatives and project managers. Accordingly, there is a noticeable improvement on all the project sites from HSE
perspective and general site tidiness. A longer term ESG strategy is also in the works to further enhance commitment to ESG principles, ensure alignment with SDGs and integrate ESG policies more thoroughly into Raxio’s operations and decision making processes by setting clear targets and benchmarks.

SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy):

As part of its effort to ensure the deployment of environmentally friendly backup power solution, Raxio was able to obtain a PIDG (Private Infrastructure Development Group) technical assistance grant to conduct a study on the feasibility of renewables. In this context, the team has mandated TeraTech, an international consulting and engineering services firm based in the US to carry out a study in relation to the integration of solar and other renewables into the energy mix of a Tier III Data centre in Mozambique and Côte d’Ivoire. The study will explore more generally the use of other types of climate positive technologies including but limited to hydrogen fuel cells and batteries. Raxio is exploring opportunities with Mozambique Industrial Park to integrate solar energy into operations at the Mozambique site. The park is currently initiating an ESIA process and is in discussion with EDM (local utility provider) to export solar powerto the grid. Consequently, Raxio is preparing to enter into a potential PPA to formalize this collaboration.

With Meridiam’s support, Raxio is expected start developing a low-carbon development charter and associated process in 2024.

SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth):

To date, the Ugandan project has created more than 200 employment opportunities for local community members during the civil works and M&E kit out phases, with knowledge transfer of new technologies.

 

 

Essential

enabler for Africa's digitalization

10

Target to develop at least 10 data centres (15MW capacity) across Africa

Reduce latency

optimize intra-African data traffic flows
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