Leveraging hydro for data centre integration: Operational and financial pathways

As demand for power in large quantities for data centres becomes more common, this can provide two distinctly different opportunities for co-locating hydropower plants. For an existing plant, a data centre can provide additional load, improving economics and avoiding the waste of under-used infrastructure. But importantly, location of a scheme close to a data centre may be taken into account at the planning stage, as part of the development concept. In discussing both concepts based on experience and research, the author draws attention to the relevance of the discussion for emerging economies, for example African nations.