Featured in Building resilience – 04-2026

Powering data centers in the desert

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region’s very high irradiance levels and low electricity costs make it an ideal location to develop utility-scale solar plants to power critical infrastructure such as hyperscale AI data centers. However, droughts and storms, hardware supply chain shortages, and geopolitical conflict all pose challenges for investors. But increased investor confidence is precisely what the region needs to prepare for 100% renewable energy powered data centers.
Blathnaid O’Dea
By
Blathnaid O’Dea
Egypt’s Benban Solar complex | Image: Scatec Solar

There is a surge of data center development on the Arabian Peninsula. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the most mature data center market in the MENA region, while Saudi Arabia is currently seeing the fastest growth in demand and pipelines, especially around AI campuses and industrial digitalization, according to Mai Barakat, data centers analyst …

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