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DATA CENTRE FEATURE SERIES
MPT ' S TAILORED COOLING SOLUTIONS NAVIGATE AFRICA ' S DATA CENTRE BOOM
Data centres
By Eamonn Ryan
From small-scale edge data centre deployments to sprawling hyperscale facilities, the demand for sophisticated thermal management is soaring, particularly across the African continent.
All images by © RACA Journal
To understand how this critical need is being met, RACA
Journal met up at the Pan-African Data Centre Exhibition and Conference in June 2025 with Rory Reid, head of department: data centres, and Willem Weber, responsible for mechanical systems, both from Master Power Technologies( MPT), a provider of comprehensive, turnkey data centre cooling solutions.
" Every data centre is a unique, individual environment with specific requirements," emphasises Reid, outlining MPT ' s core philosophy. " We don ' t take a cut-and-paste approach." Instead, MPT begins by deeply understanding the client ' s specific needs and the unique application of their data centre. This bespoke approach considers everything from the type of IT load – whether it ' s 20 racks at 40kW each or 500 racks at 3kW – to the physical location of the site.
" You can ' t use evaporative cooling in areas that are very humid," Weber points out, highlighting the crucial environmental considerations. MPT ' s solutions span the spectrum: from underfloor cooling to room-flooding approaches, utilising DX( Direct Expansion) or chilled water systems. The rise of highdensity computing, like GP GPUs( General-Purpose Graphics Processing Units) with on-chip cooling requirements, adds another layer of complexity that MPT integrates into its tailored designs. " We work to give them the best possible cooling
Willem Weber, responsible for mechanical systems, and Rory Reid, head of department: data centres: Master Power Technologies( MPT).
RACA Journal I April 2026 philosophy around their needs, ensuring optimal PUE( Power Usage Effectiveness) for that specific solution."
MPT ' s expertise isn ' t confined to a single size or type of data centre. Its portfolio ranges from compact edge solutions – as small as a four-rack data centre for a bank branch or a manufacturing plant ' s on-site data recording – to significantly larger facilities. For smaller deployments, MPT often deploys modular designs, either through modified shipping containers or its standardised Master Power Modules, which are custom-fitted to the client ' s rack specifications.
" MPT started 26 years ago as a secure power solutions company," Reid explains, detailing its evolution. " The biggest users of secure power solutions are data centres – telcos, banking and now the colocation companies. Being a secure power solutions company in Africa, which has its own power quality issues, we naturally evolved into a secure power data centre company."
When discussing the unique cooling challenges of designing and implementing integrated solutions across diverse African regions, Weber highlights expandability and maintainability as paramount. " The challenge is to give the client a system that is expandable," he states, noting that many start small( for example, 200kW) but envision rapid growth to multi-megawatt capacities. Equally vital in Africa is providing systems that can be maintained locally, ensuring long-term operational viability.
Reid elaborates on MPT ' s strategic approach to phased expansion. If a client projects a 1MW site but anticipates only 100kW utilisation initially, MPT might recommend a dual-coil CRAC unit. This unit would initially operate on DX for lower capital expenditure, then seamlessly transition to a chilled water system as the load scales past, say, 500kW. The DX component then remains as a valuable backup. " We try to come up with solutions that help our customer through the life cycle of the data centre as it goes from being empty to full, so that they can get the best possible return on investment," Reid adds. This pragmatic, future-compatible design philosophy ensures business model viability for MPT ' s clients, fostering long-term partnerships.”
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