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... Microsoft originally announced the project in 2024, when it pledged to build a $1 billion geothermal-powered data center in the Olkaria region of Kenya's Rift Valley.

The facility would initially have a 100-megawatt capacity, with plans to scale up to 1 gigawatt in the years to come.

This project was to be run by G42, an Emirati AI and cloud computing holding company that Microsoft invested $1.5 billion in that same year.

But opposition to the project is now rising, with the country's President, William Ruto, making a public statement highlighting potential energy concerns.

With Kenya's total installed electricity capacity sitting between 3,000 and 3,200 megawatts (per Tom's Hardware), a 1-gigawatt data center would consume around a third of the country's total electricity supply. With existing infrastructure and civilian needs pulling around 2,400 megawatts at peak demand, there simply isn't a way for such a facility to coexist with current energy infrastructure"at least without making drastic cuts to the rest of the country's supply. ...