The first data centre facility in Vantage Data Center’s Midrand campus. The company is now building a new campus, 17km away from this site, in Ekurhuleni

Vantage Data Centers, which recently completed construction a data centre in Midrand, north of Johannesburg, has announced plans for a second “campus”, in Ekurhuleni, to the city’s east.

Johannesburg is increasingly the epicentre of data centre investments in Africa, with huge money being spent in recent years by companies such as Teraco, NTT and Africa Data Centres.

Read: Nasdaq-listed Equinix to invest R2.8-billion in Joburg data centre

Vantage’s new campus will be built in Isando, which is already the home of several huge data centres built by Teraco. The new campus will be just 2km from the Teraco site, which houses the NAPAfrica Internet exchange point.

“South Africa continues to be a cornerstone for Vantage’s Emea growth outside of continental Europe,” said the company’s regional president Antoine Boniface in a statement in reference to Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The first building of the JNB2 campus will consist of a 20MW, 33 000sq m, two-storey facility and will be operational by mid-2024. Vantage is repurposing a portion of an existing warehouse for the initial phase.

“Many features of JNB2 are based on Vantage’s standardised campus blueprint, emphasising sustainable construction practices. This includes offering renewable energy options through a recent power purchase agreement with SolarAfrica, limiting carbon footprints, maintaining energy efficient operations with an industry-leading power usage effectiveness, and minimising the use of water,” the company said in the statement.

Cooling

“The first data centre on the JNB2 campus will be cooled using a highly efficient, closed-loop chilled water system generated through air-cooled chillers. An integrated economiser capability will allow reduced compressor energy based on outside ambient temperature. This allows Vantage to take advantage of cooler seasonal temperatures to minimise resource usage. Customers will benefit from power provided by the municipality of Ekurhuleni, combined with a dedicated on-site, high-voltage substation.”