Teraco breaks ground on 120MW solar plant

South African-based Data centre company Teraco has started construction of a 120MW utility-scale solar PV power plant in the Free State.

In what it calls “a world first for data centre operators”, Teraco will own the 120MW solar PV plant and “wheel” the renewable energy to its data centres. 

Wheeling renewable energy across electrical grids enables power to be moved from a renewable energy producer in outlying areas via existing transmission and distribution systems to end users in urban areas. It also allows the deployment of renewable energy projects to areas with high energy yields to maximise their generation potential. Wheeling to multiple municipalities marks another first for renewable energy projects in South Africa.

A subsidiary of Digital Realty and provider of interconnection platforms and vendor-neutral colocation data centres, Teraco now plans to create its own sustainable energy source to power the next generation of client cloud and AI computing applications. The plant is expected to come online in late 2026.  

“Driving renewable energy infrastructure investment at a time when computing applications such as artificial intelligence are using increased power is an industry imperative,” says Jan Hnizdo, CEO of Teraco. “The need is even more acute in South Africa, given its electricity generation constraints and current levels of renewable energy penetration. 

“This is a significant step toward meeting our renewable energy ambitions and those of our clients. It is also only the first phase of our longer-term renewable energy commitment, with the construction commencement marking an important milestone in what has been a long journey over the last several years, and we are now looking forward to driving the project to completion.

“This represents a unique holistic approach since Teraco plans to not only own its data centres, but also to power them with a renewable energy source, creating a sustainable path to growth. This initiative aligns with Teraco’s long-term vision of powering digital transformation across Africa. South Africa’s solar power represents a competitive advantage for data centres relative to other locations.”

Teraco secured grid capacity allocation from Eskom for the solar plant in February and has spent the last eight months finalising plant design and the wheeling arrangements between Eskom and the municipalities of Ekurhuleni and Cape Town, within which several of Teraco’s data centres are located.

Bryce Allan, Head of Sustainability at Teraco, says: “Teraco considers this project essential to achieving its renewable energy ambitions and believes it will pave the way for other municipality renewable energy wheeling projects. This will ultimately assist municipalities in attracting new investments and remaining competitive as local and international companies become increasingly sensitive to the carbon intensity of their electricity supply.”

Teraco has partnered with JUWI and Subsolar to develop the 120MW solar PV plant, with JUWI appointed to design and manage the procurement, construction, and commissioning.

Teraco will also upgrade Eskom’s transmission infrastructure to allow the electricity generated to be successfully transmitted through the national grid. When fully operational, the 120MW solar PV plant is expected to produce more than 354,000 MWh annually.