RACA Journal January 2026 RACA_January_2026 | Page 25

DATA CENTRE FEATURE SERIES

Data centres

A third opportunity is waste-heat reuse and district heating, which captures and exports server heat to improve overall efficiency, though practical deployment depends on local infrastructure. Fourth, governments should prioritise regulatory and power-market reforms: predictable tariffs, streamlined permits for on-site generation, and demand-response mechanisms can lower risk and unlock investment, as highlighted in OECD policy reviews.

Finally, Africa may need a hybrid edge vs centralised model, distributing smaller edge sites for latency-sensitive services while building a few high-capacity, liquid-cooled hubs in locations with abundant low-carbon power, stronger grid capacity or naturally cooler climates.

REFERENCE:

1. The cost of compute power: A $ 7 trillion race | McKinsey

Image supplied by UL Solutions‘ Safety Certification of IT Equipment Cooling in Data Centers White Paper

Image supplied by UL Solutions‘ Safety Certification of IT Equipment Cooling in Data Centers White Paper

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