SA’s data centre boom brings fresh power demands

South Africa is poised to handle 77% of Africa's projected surge in data centre electricity demand over the next ten years, according to a new report. This marks the country as a focal point for the region's expanding digital infrastructure power needs. The Africa Data Centre Power Outlook, published by Electron Intelligence, predicts South Africa will add 7.77 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity demand by 2035, driven by increased cloud usage, enterprise digitization, and the need for locally hosted data.

The report bases its findings on power procurement records from 177 operating and 29 planned data centre facilities, alongside electricity cost models and industrial tariff benchmarks. It also assesses South Africa's electricity procurement landscape, considering renewable energy wheeling and multi-site power purchase agreements.

While Africa's total data centre electricity consumption is expected to rise from 2.55TWh in 2025 to 12.60TWh by 2035, only 337MW, or 52%, of the announced additional IT capacity pipeline is slated for completion by 2035. The continent will require an additional 583MW of unannounced IT capacity to meet projected demand under the report's base-case scenario.

South Africa alone represents around 513MW of this additional capacity requirement, with Kenya already exceeding its forecast by 2035. Colocation operators are expected to account for roughly 90% of the continent's demand growth. David Oni, head of research at Electron Intelligence, advises data centre developers and power suppliers not to rely solely on announced campus capacity for investment decisions.

He notes that announced IT megawatts are a poor indicator of near-term electricity sales, as average IT draw across operating facilities was less than half of installed IT capacity in 2025. Instead, power developers and lenders should focus on signed tenant commitments and actual rack loading. The report highlights renewable energy wheeling as a potential solution to supply South Africa's expanding data centre market.

A model based on a 12MW IT facility consuming 97 gigawatt-hours annually, using wheeled solar to supplement utility electricity and on-site backup, could reduce electricity costs by 11.5%. However, grid connection capacity, municipal wheeling rules, transmission-use charges, and electricity tariff structures are factors that influence the commercial viability of alternative power arrangements.

The report warns that power developers and infrastructure investors risk committing capital before securing sufficient data centre operators, particularly when high-voltage substations, transmission connections, or gas pipelines cannot be built in stages. For instance, under a delayed-growth scenario, Africa's data centre electricity consumption would only reach 6.44TWh in 2035, which is 49% below the base-case forecast of 12.60TWh. South Africa accounts for 78% of the projected 2035 shortfall.