Data centre firm Teraco starts building 120-MW solar farm in S Africa

South Africa-based data centre provider Teraco said today that it has started construction works on a 120-MW utility-scale solar farm at home which is part of the company's push to have its own sustainable energy sources.

Located in the Free State province, the facility will be owned by Teraco and supply clean electricity to its data centres. The solar farm, which will generate more than 354,000 MWh annually, is expected to become operational in late 2026.

Teraco secured grid capacity allocation from public utility Eskom in February. Since then, the company has been working to conclude 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.

Project partners include juwi, which was hired to design and manage the procurement, construction and commissioning, 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. The need is even more acute in South Africa, given its electricity generation constraints and current levels of renewable energy penetration,” said Teraco’s CEO Jan Hnizdo, adding that this solar farm is “only the first phase of our longer-term renewable energy commitment.”

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