The Gulf’s on-going investment in artificial intelligence creates an opportunity to rethink how digital infrastructure is developed, powered, and cooled. As governments and businesses expand sovereign cloud and advanced computing operations, sustainability has become a critical consideration throughout the data center life-cycle.
Recent regional projects suggest that the most promising progress comes when energy, engineering and operational decisions are considered early and wholistically from project inception.
In Abu Dhabi, Masdar and Emirates Water and Electricity Company are developing a project combining 5.2GW of solar generation with 19GWh of battery storage, designed to deliver 1GW of continuous clean power. Although a broader energy project, its relevance to data centres as an example of how combined renewable energy generation and storage can offer a pathway towards the dependable, round-the-clock electricity that digital services require.
Saudi Arabia’s Oxagon clean industrial city is an ambitious example of how energy and computing can be planned together. In August 2026, HUMAIN and DataVolt announced construction was underway on the first phase of a partnership that will deliver 100MW by 2028, eventually delivering a combined total of 1.5GW of power.
The scale is impressive but most notable is its early integration of renewable industrial energy and connectivity utilities – the economic and performance outcomes of which the industry will be watching closely.
For developers, the practical note is that sustainability begins with site selection and infrastructure coordination. It sounds simple enough but involves expansion and early engagement of an already complex network of stakeholders. From utilities, to designers and operators, the conversation must align power supply, cooling requirements and, importantly for such a rapidly-growing sector, expansion plans, to avoid costly changes further down the project cycle.
Cooling is a good example in the Gulf’s hostile ambient environment. Khazna’s 100MW QAJ1 development in Ajman, designed around high-density AI workloads, will incorporate liquid cooling and modular arrangement of twenty data halls. Its design received Uptime Institute Tier III certification in February 2026, marking a real-world case study project that combines demanding computing requirements with resilient infrastructure.
For Gulf facilities, the imperative is to design the complete cooling system around local conditions, considering electricity consumption alongside water availability and long-term maintenance. Liquid cooling can help manage concentrated heat from AI processors, but its value depends on how effectively the wider facility transfers and rejects that heat. Modular development can give operators flexibility to introduce capacity as demand grows and technology evolves.
These engineering decisions need to be underpinned by transparent, real-world operational data. Khazna’s first standalone ESG report, published in October, set out its ambition to cover its mechanical cooling load entirely with carbon-free electricity by 2035. Such reports provide a clear operational baseline and give customers and partners a clearer basis for discussing progress and future requirements.
Making this integrated approach routine across data center procurement and delivery is the real challenge - against a backdrop of fierce competition in the global supply chain for high-performance energy and cooling components and the world-class talent required to design, build and operate highly technical digital infrastructure.
(This article is contributed by James Williams, Content Lead, Data Center World 2026, inD)
