AMACO Energy Group, a Greek multinational, is proposing an answer to one of the hardest questions facing Africa’s artificial intelligence (AI) ambitions today: where will all the electricity needed to run the servers come from?
The company’s HERCULES project combines electricity generation, cooling and AI data-centre infrastructure. The idea is to reduce dependence on the national grid by generating electricity close to where it is consumed. The initial design uses liquefied natural gas (LNG), although AMACO says the system can later accommodate renewable energy and hydrogen.
Theodore Theodoropoulos, AMACO’s founder and chief executive, is in Nairobi to discuss the proposal with Kenyan officials and potential partners, according to an email sent to TechCabal.
“HERCULES has the potential to transform Mombasa Port and Kenya into a global AI Data Center hub by integrating advanced, independent smart-power generation directly with AI-DC infrastructure,” AMACO said in the email.
“Designed as a next-generation solution, it offers a highly mobile, scalable, adaptive and energy-efficient platform that can be deployed independently of the conventional electricity grid.”
There is plenty to prove. The project has not been built, and questions remain over financing, customers, approvals, fuel supply, and the environmental case for using LNG. Africa has no shortage of ambitious infrastructure proposals that failed to progress beyond announcements.
But the thinking behind HERCULES is more interesting than the question of whether one $1.5 billion project succeeds. AI is bringing data centres and electricity systems closer together. Global data-centre electricity consumption was about 415 terawatt-hours in 2024 and could reach 945TWh by 2030, with AI being the main driver of that increase.
What might Africa learn from AMACO’s approach? Five lessons stand out.