Biggest data centre operator in South Africa building 40MW expansion

Teraco has commenced construction of a 40-megawatt (MW) critical power load expansion to its Islando Campus in Ekurhuleni.

The company, South Africa’s biggest data centre operator, received funding to construct the new data centre, known as JB7, from an R8 billion syndicated loan.

The JB7 expansion will be completed in 2026, increasing the campus’ total critical power load capacity to 110MW.

Teraco CEO Jan Hnizdo said the growing adoption of cloud services in Africa is resulting in the continuous deployment of enterprise and hyperscale facilities.

“South Africa is a springboard for cloud provision into Africa and, as a result, has become the technology and data centre hub for sub-Saharan Africa,” said Hnizdo.

“Global investments into undersea cables, like Equiano and 2Africa, further strengthen this position. This will enable global cloud providers to service the South African market and the rest of the sub-Saharan African region.”

Because data centres are extremely energy intensive, Teraco said it has designed the JB7 expansion to prioritise sustainability, incorporating closed-loop chilled water system cooling and direct free air cooling.

These systems have been designed to provide liquid-to-air and liquid-to-liquid cooling to facilitate high-density cloud and artificial intelligence deployments.

Once complete, JB7 is expected to be a 71,000-square-metre building with eight 1,500-square-metre data halls.

It is Teraco’s ninth data centre, with five facilities in Johannesburg, two in Cape Town, and one in Durban. The JB7 expansion will increase Teraco’s total capacity to 228MW.

“Teraco is focused on growing its capacity footprint across its core hubs. We ensure our clients have the flexibility to scale and take advantage of the digital transformation across sub-Saharan Africa,” says Teraco CEO Jan Hnizdo.

“We continue to invest significantly in the region’s ICT infrastructure and have built Africa’s largest data centre platform.”

The R8 billion syndicated loan was secured through Absa and other financial institutions. In addition to the JB7 expansion, part of the loan will augment existing loans to finance the company’s renewable energy programme.

This programme includes the construction of a 120-megawatt solar PV plant in the Free State, which is expected to come online by late 2026.

Once complete, the plant will produce more than 354,000 MWh annually.

“The new syndication was well oversubscribed, which is an expression of confidence by our local institutional financing partners in our data centre platform, growth path and ESG initiatives,” says Teraco CFO Samuel Erwin.

“We have a unique opportunity in South Africa to integrate renewable energy generation into the provision of data centre infrastructure to serve our clients and support continued, sustainable digital advancement in our region.”