Teraco, South Africa’s largest data centre operator, has begun construction of a 120MW solar plant in the Free State that will help power its facilities around the country.
Teraco will “wheel” electricity generated by the utility-scale solar photovoltaic plant across the grid once it is completed and online in late 2026.
The company said it hopes to power the “next generation of client cloud and AI computing applications” using renewable energy.
“Driving renewable energy infrastructure investment at a time when computing applications such as artificial intelligence are using increased power is an industry imperative,” said Teraco CEO Jan Hnizdo in a statement on Tuesday.
“The need is even more acute in South Africa, given its electricity generation constraints and current levels of renewable energy penetration.”
Hnizdo described the new solar plant as “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”.
Teraco secured grid capacity 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.
Wheeling
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, Teraco said.
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 of the sprawling site.
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Teraco will 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 000MWh annually, the company said. – © 2024 NewsCentral Media
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