Wholesale data centre provider, Khazna is shifting to renewable energy sources like solar, reducing reliance on conventional energy and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. In October last year, Khazna unveiled plans to introduce biofuels to its portfolio of generators and is reducing the reliance on traditional energy sources. Johan Nilerud at Khazna Data Centers explains further.
Khazna is a leading hyperscale wholesale data centre provider in the region, focusing on offering scalable, secure, and energy-efficient infrastructure solutions to support the digital economy. For over a decade, Khazna has been a cornerstone of digital transformation, propelling the UAE to the forefront of innovation.
Addressing the significant energy consumption and cooling requirements of data centres is imperative, especially as the world intensifies its focus on achieving Net Zero.
This forward-thinking strategy not only demonstrates its proactive approach to energy management, but also positions Khazna as a leader in the industry, capable of supporting the intensive energy needs of AI advancements while maintaining operational efficiency and environmental responsibility.
Move towards lower emissions
Khazna is shifting to renewable energy sources like solar, reducing reliance on conventional energy and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. In October last year, Khazna unveiled its plan to introduce biofuels to its portfolio of generators. By introducing new ways of powering and subsequently cooling data centres, Khazna is lowering its reliance on traditional energy sources.
Khazna is spearheading sustainable initiatives to mitigate its carbon footprint. For instance, its AUH6 facility located in Masdar City and launched in February this year, features a 7 megawatts peak, MWp solar PV plant developed with Emerge.
The external architecture of the AUH6 was crafted to protect the facility from the adverse effects of direct sunlight. This design approach effectively reduces the infiltration of heat into the building, therefore enhancing the data centre’s efficiency and sustainability.
Khazna is also adopting innovative cooling methods such as adiabatic-free cooling chillers to optimise energy usage and minimise power consumption. Its modular approach enhances energy efficiency, scalability, and uptime, while its partnerships with entities like Emerge and BEEAH Digital further underscore its commitment to sustainability in the data centre industry.
Khazna will soon be announcing a groundbreaking project using full-scale liquid-cooling solution in one of its new data centres. This will make Khazna a pioneer in incorporating liquid-cooling on an industrial scale, which so far has been primarily implemented and tested on smaller scale projects. Liquid cooling will not only drive energy efficiency, but also reduce water usage.
Khazna is consistently striving to reduce its carbon footprint. Key to this is first ensuring that Khazna is obtaining an accurate measurement of its carbon footprint. Last year, the company initiated a pilot project at one of its data centres, where Khazna established a process for calculating Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions.
This involved analysing the sources of emissions and defining the relevant emissions factors to calculate the carbon dioxide equivalent emitted. Based on this process, Khazna is now collecting relevant data across all its data centres, such as diesel consumption and electricity purchased, to compile a full-year emissions inventory by the end of 2024, covering Khazna’s Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions.
Proactively becoming AI ready
The increasing power demands of AI training and inference workloads are substantial, and addressing these needs will be crucial for future growth. Khazna is well-positioned to keep up with this demand due to its strategic approach to land selection and energy procurement. Khazna has selected sites that provide robust power availability, ensuring that its data centres can meet the growing energy requirements of AI applications.
Khazna’s commitment to sustainability and innovation, such as using adiabatic cooling technology and transitioning to biofuel for diesel generators, demonstrates its proactive approach to energy management.
This forward-thinking strategy positions the company as capable of supporting the intensive energy needs of AI advancements while maintaining operational efficiency and environmental responsibility. During its data centre design phase, Khazna ensures that it makes the right decisions to future-proof the technical design of the data centres, to enable transition to renewable and low-carbon energy sources.
As Khazna navigates the rise of AI implementation its goal is to enable customers with the right infrastructure. Data centres are the enablers of AI, and Khazna strives to support customers with the latest innovations in technology, sustainability and design.
Wholesale operations
Currently, Khazna has over 23 operational data centres, an additional 7 under construction, and several new projects in the pipeline. Khazna is also a regional lead in energy efficiency, designing and operating data centres with a Power Usage Effectiveness, PUE of 1.4.
Khazna’s data centres are wholesale or hyperscale in nature, servicing the whole value-chain of a project. Khazna provides an end-to-end service, from identifying and assessing availability of land and power, to planning and designing the physical infrastructure, project managing the construction, and then finally, operating the full facility and infrastructure.
Khazna is committed to fostering innovation and sustainability, as evidenced by the recent launch of its AI-ready hyperscale data centre in Masdar City, AUH6. This facility, with 31.8 MW of IT power capacity, designed to support the advanced workloads, underscores its role as a key enabler of UAE’s digital future.
The innovative construction approach of AUH6, employing a modular and repeatable design for data centres sets it apart. This approach not only enhances construction efficiency but also drives performance, accelerates deployment timelines, and ensures seamless day-to-day operations.
Khazna is currently in the process of delivering a 30MW data centre in Abu Dhabi’s Mafraq industrial area, developed in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, ADIO under the Musataha program. This data centre, expected to be operational by mid-2026, will bolster Abu Dhabi’s position as a global digital hub. The company is also expanding internationally with several projects in advanced stages across the middle east Africa region.
Being a hyperscale data centre provider means that Khazna builds large and scalable data centres that generally require more than 30,000 sqm of land and more than 30 MW of power. Its clients include hyperscalers, government agencies, and sizeable ICT companies with large IT requirements.
Clients require state-of-the-art facilities, such as those of Khazna, to host their critical IT infrastructure, enabling them to operate efficiently without any downtime, as well as scale quickly in today’s digital world.
Alliance partnerships
Khazna’s success is testament to the strong partnerships Khazna have established. These partnerships include relationships with strategic customers, technology and delivery partners, as well as other stakeholders. The collaboration with Abu Dhabi Investment Office under the Musataha program is a testament to its commitment supporting Abu Dhabi’s economic vision.
Khazna has also partnered with Benya Group to enter the North African market, setting the stage for a significant presence in Egypt. Khazna has also collaborated with entities such as Emerge and BEEAH Digital, reiterating its commitment to sustainability in the data centre industry.
Khazna recently announced its project with HPE, to develop a new managed data centre hosting service in the UAE. The service provides access to a data centre facility fitted for end-to-end high-performance computing technologies, purpose-built for AI, spanning compute, accelerated compute, software, networking and direct liquid-cooling.
Khazna remains committed to facilitating the integration of latest technologies, including AI, into data centre solutions. Khazna’s customer experience includes solutions built around a secure and dependable infrastructure, designed to meet industry green standards while empowering customers to leverage AI for strategic growth and innovation.
