APA-Johannesburg (South Africa) One of Africa’s largest interconnection hubs Teraco plans to construct a 120MW solar photovoltaic (PV) facility in South Africa’s Free State province after securing an agreement that will allow it to use power utility Eskom’s grid to move electricity from the proposed plant.
Teraco announced on Wednesday that plans to construct the plant got a boost this week after it secured a grid capacity allocation from Eskom, an arrangement that would enable the company to wheel power from the utility-scale solar facility to its facilities across South Africa using Eskom and municipal transmission and distribution systems.
“This allocation is a significant step towards meeting our renewable energy ambitions and those of our clients,” Teraco chief executive Jan Hnizdo said.
The company has partnered with JUWI Renewable Energies South Africa and Subsolar to develop the 120MW solar PV plant.
He described the agreement with Eskom as a welcome move, coming at a time when South Africa is facing electricity challenges, marked by electricity outages of several hours a day in most areas.
“This presents an incredible opportunity to meet our near-term renewable energy goals while adding additional power capacity to a generation constrained grid,” Hnizdo said.
Teraco is one of Africa’s leading data centre infrastructure and services companies, and forms a vital part of the continent’s internet backbone.
JN/APA