Liquid cooling in African data centres: A turning point in efficiency, resilience and future-ready design

Overview

This article by Leon Kleyn and Floris van der Walt of WSP shares practical lessons from introducing liquid cooling in African data centres for GPU-based AI loads. The authors state that liquid has roughly three to four times the cooling capacity of air. The article recommends air cooling where it still works and liquid cooling where GPU loads require it, and says hot climates do not restrict liquid cooling.

Several concrete design and operations topics stand out. Cold-plate loops use demineralised water, since potable-water minerals can block microchannels, and a propylene glycol mix inhibits scaling and biofilm. The closed loop is filled once at commissioning and should use no make-up water; measurable consumption indicates a leak. The article also covers leak detection and the need for specialist operations training.

Supply chain is another risk it highlights: CDUs are not manufactured in Africa, so global lead times are a project risk and procurement queues can affect the schedule. Among design lessons, industrial-type buildings with generous volume and structural flexibility are said to suit liquid-cooled retrofits if site power is sufficient. As a limit, the article is a consultancy opinion piece; it gives no measurement data or calculation method and its conclusions rest on the authors' experience.

Key points

1. Liquid has roughly three to four times the cooling capacity of air (as stated by the authors).
2. Cold-plate loops use demineralised water, since potable-water minerals can block microchannels; a propylene glycol mix inhibits scaling and biofilm.
3. The closed loop is filled once at commissioning and should use no make-up water; measurable consumption indicates a leak.
4. CDUs are not manufactured in Africa, so global lead times are a project risk.
5. Industrial-type buildings with generous volume and structural flexibility suit liquid-cooled retrofits if site power is sufficient.
6. The article recommends air cooling where it works and liquid cooling where GPU loads require it.

Using it in design

• For TCS loops, add coolant fields (demineralised water, PG percentage).
• Treat any make-up water on a closed loop as a leak alarm in the monitoring design.
• Flag long-lead items such as CDUs in the procurement and BOM output.
• In retrofit projects, check building volume, structural flexibility and site power early.

Who should read it

Data centre designers moving to liquid cooling, project managers and decision makers managing procurement risk in emerging markets.

Related standards

• ASHRAE TC 9.9 Liquid Cooling Guidelines

Publication details

Authors

Leon Kleyn; Floris van der Walt

Publisher

WSP

Year

2026

Document language

English

Source type

Expert / community

Access

Free to read

Licence

Copyright retained; citation only — the publisher’s terms apply to the original document

Citation