{"id":61483,"date":"2024-02-21T17:12:02","date_gmt":"2024-02-21T17:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/huge-solar-plant-starts-construction-in-the-free-state"},"modified":"2024-02-21T18:31:55","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T18:31:55","slug":"huge-solar-plant-starts-construction-in-the-free-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/huge-solar-plant-starts-construction-in-the-free-state","title":{"rendered":"Huge solar plant starts construction in the Free State"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Teraco, a data centre provider, is starting construction on a massive solar PV plant in the Free State.<\/p>\n

The group announced it had secured its first grid capacity allocation from Eskom and will start construction on a 120MW utility-scale solar PV plant.<\/p>\n

Teraco will connect the system to the national electrical grid and wheel across Eskom and municipal power networks.<\/p>\n

Wheeling allows generators in outlying areas to use existing transmission and distribution systems to distribute electricity to end-users located in urban areas.\u201cThis allocation is a significant step towards meeting our renewable energy ambitions and those of our clients. It is also only the first phase of our longer-term renewable energy commitment,\u201d said Jan Hnizdo, CEO at Teraco.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been on a long journey over the last few years to obtain these approvals, and our aim now is to execute quickly on the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn South Africa, we have various energy challenges, and this presents an incredible opportunity to meet our near-term renewable energy goals while adding additional power capacity to a generation-constrained grid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Africa\u2019s solar resource is a source of competitive advantage for data centres relative to other locations.\u201d<\/p>\n

When fully operational, the 120MW solar plant is expected to produce over 338,000 MWh annually.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to this project, over the past two years, Teraco has deployed approximately 6MW of roof-top solar integrated into its facilities, and this amount is to be increased to 10MW as new facilities become operational,\u201d said Bryce Allan, Head of Sustainability at Teraco.<\/p>\n

JUWI Renewable Energies South Africa and Subsolar are working with Teraco to develop the 120 solar PV plant, with JUWI appointed to design and manage the procurement, construction, and commissioning.<\/p>\n

Teraco has also used a green loan to finance the plant\u2019s construction.<\/p>\n\r\n