Kenya publishes no substation headroom, so each data center cluster gets a 0 to 100 Connectability Score from what the grid data does show: how close and how many high-voltage stations there are, how much capacity is already built nearby, and the distance to an exchange and a cable landing. Nairobi is the load centre; Mombasa is where the cables come ashore.
| # | Cluster | DC sites | Connectability | Transformers ≤5 km | Nearest station | Nearest substation | To exchange | To landing |
|---|
Connectability Score. Each cluster gets a score from 0 to 100 from four public indicators: distance to the nearest high-voltage station, how many sit within reach, how much data center capacity is already built nearby, and distance to an exchange or cable landing. The (i) beside the ranking gives the weights and scales. The same score, weights and colour bands are used on every power page, so clusters can be compared across markets.
No headroom is published. Neither Kenya Power nor KETRACO publishes spare capacity per substation, and there is no connection queue to read. So the score rests on proximity, not available capacity; a high score is a reason to ask Kenya Power, not a connection.
Network density. The count of Kenya Power distribution transformers within 5 km of a cluster. A dense network means an existing supply that can be reinforced; a thin one means a new line. It is a proxy for connectability, not for available megawatts.
Transmission stations. 83 stations from the World Bank's energydata.info, with voltage read from the station label where given. Distance to the nearest station, and its voltage, decide whether a large load is plausible at all.
Connectivity. PeeringDB facilities and the exchanges they host, and TeleGeography cable landings. Every international cable lands at Mombasa, while peering is in Nairobi, which is why the two cities score differently on the same grid.
Generation and climate. Power stations over 5 MW and transmission lines come from OpenStreetMap, so they are indicative rather than complete. ERA5 gives cooling degree days and free-cooling hours at each cluster: Nairobi sits at about 1,700 m, which makes free cooling unusually good for the tropics. Ember gives the national generation mix and carbon intensity, which in Kenya is mostly geothermal, hydro and wind.
What is missing. Substation capacity and the connection queue (Kenya Power request), EPRA tariffs and licences (published as PDF), land and plot data, and water stress: WRI Aqueduct ships as a download that has to be prepared by hand, so Kenya is not in it yet. These are tracked as open requests.