South African data centre provider Teraco has commenced work on a 120-MW solar farm in the Free State province, aimed at supporting its facilities with sustainable energy.
The new solar plant, expected to generate over 354,000 MWh of clean electricity annually, is set to power Teraco's data centres once operational by late 2026.
The facility, fully owned by Teraco, received grid capacity allocation from South Africa's Eskom utility in February.
Teraco has since worked on plant design and finalizing power wheeling arrangements with Eskom and the municipalities of Ekurhuleni and Cape Town, where its data centres are located. Project execution will be overseen by renewable energy specialist juwi and Subsolar.
“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. He noted the urgent need for such projects in South Africa, given the country's energy challenges, and confirmed that this solar farm marks “only the first phase of our longer-term renewable energy commitment.”
