Posted on March 30, 2021
The Raxio Group (“Raxio”), a premier pan-African data centre developer and operator, and Meridiam, a global developer, asset and fund manager specialising in sustainable infrastructure and energy transition projects today announced a partnership to deploy a network of data centres across the African continent. Under this agreement, Meridiam will invest $48 million to support the continued deployment of data centres in Africa, where both Raxio and Meridiam already have strong local presence. Meridiam’s investment is made alongside Raxio’s founding equity partner, Roha Group who established Raxio in 2018, and has been funding the company since inception.
With the rise of connectivity on the African continent, Raxio’s facilities are built to boost digital transformation, economic growth and job creation, whilst using state-of-the-art design and technologies to minimise the impact on the environment. From the design phase, equipment choices are adapted to the local environmental and climatic conditions with a view to continuously reduce energy consumption. Raxio is also actively working on connecting its facilities to local renewable generation capabilities such as solar power, in addition to the hydropower sources it is currently using.
Raxio data centres will facilitate internet traffic to and from content providers locally and make the internet experience faster, more resilient, and more affordable for all digital users. Raxio’s data centres will also support the growth of the African IT sector and will be a catalyst for highly skilled job creation in all the planned countries. To improve latency and connectivity for businesses, Raxio works with local, regional, and international connectivity providers to share ducts and ensure its sites are located along major fibre routes, ensuring its facilities are true connectivity hubs in the local markets.
Robert Mullins, CEO of Raxio Group said: “We are delighted to welcome Meridiam as our new investment partner in our shared vision. This investment comes at an ideal time, as we have continued our expansion activities by investing in our third facility – in the Democratic Republic of Congo – following our first flagship facility in Uganda and launching the construction of our Ethiopian data centre. It is testament to our strategy of developing an Africa-wide network of local, interconnected facilities, that provide our customers with affordable, state-of-the-art solutions for their IT infrastructure, in a neutral, “always on” environment. Customers are core to the design process to ensure our facilities are efficient, sustainable and cost-effective. With its extensive knowledge in the development of sustainable infrastructure in the region, we are convinced Meridiam is the partner of choice for us to continue our deployment plans and reach our targets.”
Mathieu Peller, COO Africa for Meridiam said: “Investing in Raxio’s data centre platform was a natural move for us, as it fits our purpose to delivering sustainable infrastructure that improves the quality of people’s lives. We are excited to contribute to developing Africa’s digital infrastructure, by helping to roll-out energy efficient data centres that will drive the digital transformation of the continent and be a catalyst for highly skilled jobs creation, whilst respecting the local environment.”
By building its network of data centres with a focus on environmental sustainability and with the objective of driving technological advancement in the region, Raxio delivers impact across a wide range of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), most notably:
- the Industry Innovation and Infrastructure (SDG#9), as the project is using a fit-to-market, modular design to build an infrastructure critical to the digital transformation of Africa
- the Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG#8), Raxio is expected to enable new opportunities for the digitisation of African economies, while providing high-skilled permanent jobs locally
- and Climate action (SDG#11). Raxio will be maximising energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources, thus providing much-needed capacity while minimising carbon emissions
Raxio’s data centres are designed and built to Tier III standards, with an availability rate over 99.9% a year. They are fully redundant and able to operate independently of the power grid for extended periods of time, and do not require any shutdown when equipment needs maintenance or replacement.
In Africa, Meridiam has already invested in major infrastructure for a total amount in excess of 4 billion euros. In the continent’s transition energy sector, it has successfully invested in
- 4 solar power plants in Senegal, offering some of the lowest tariffs in Africa,
- Tulu Moye,a geothermal power plant and the first IPP (Independent Power Producer) in Ethiopia,
- the Kinguele Aval Hydropower plant, which will deliver about 13% of the electricity needs of Libreville, the capital city of Gabon,
- the Biokala biomass power plant in Côte d’Ivoire, the largest biomass power plant in Sub-Saharan Africa which will be fuelled from agricultural waste and will meet the electricity needs of the equivalent of 1.7 million people per year,
- NeOT, a company rolling out 300,000 solar home systems and mini-grids across West Africa
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