Teraco, a company that runs data centers in South Africa, has started building a solar power plant to produce clean energy for its facilities. The 120-megawatt (MW) solar plant is located in the Free State province and aims to start supplying power by late 2026.
Teraco’s solar plant is the first of its kind as a data center operator which has decided to build and own a solar plant for its energy needs. This plant will provide renewable energy to power the data centers.
Teraco has partnered with companies JUWI and Subsolar to complete the solar project. JUWI will take care of the design, buying materials, building the plant, and making sure it’s ready to go. Teraco has also been working closely with Eskom, South Africa’s national electricity company, to make sure the power generated by the plant can reach its data centers in cities like Ekurhuleni and Cape Town.
In February, Teraco received approval from Eskom to connect this power to the national grid. Over the past few months, Teraco has also made deals with local governments to send or “wheel” the solar energy across Eskom’s grid from the plant to where it’s needed in urban areas. This process lets power generated in one place reach users in other locations, which is especially useful for renewable projects.
The solar plant will produce about 354,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity per year, enough to power Teraco’s data centers and support growing technology needs. This project could set a mark for other companies and promote more investments in renewable energy across South Africa.
Teraco’s CEO, Jan Hnizdo, said, this solar plant is part of a bigger plan to use more renewable energy. He sees it as a way to help solve “South Africa’s energy challenges and meet the rising power needs of tech applications.”
