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Although Amazon.com is falling silent for now on the details of its planned “utility-scale” renewable energy project in South Africa, it has emerged that it will be powered by a giant solar farm to be built in the North Cape.
The project, which has already been approved by energy regulator Nersa, is led by local experts in solar energy, The SOLA Group. It will supply 28GWh of solar power, “transported” through Eskom’s grid, to Amazon’s facilities each year, including the recently launched data centers in Cape Town built by Amazon’s cloud computing subsidiary AWS. Construction will begin early next year.
Amazon said Thursday that it is adding 26 new “utility scale” wind and solar projects around the world, including its first installation in South Africa, bringing the total number of such projects to 127.
The new renewable energy projects are located in South Africa, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. The projects will deliver a total 3.4GW of power production capacity. Amazon’s renewable energy investments announced to date will provide 6.5 GW of capacity.
The SOLA Group will be responsible for the development of the project in South Africa and will build, own and operate the 10MW solar facility. The project will be majority black-owned, with Mahlako a Phahla Investments, a black women-owned and operated energy and infrastructure investment holding company, holding 45%.
Another investor is African Infrastructure Investment Managers, through the Ideas Fund, one of the largest national infrastructure equity funds in South Africa and one of the largest local investors in renewable energy.
License requested
SOLA Group CEO Chris Haw said in a statement that while the concept of “circular” energy using Eskom’s infrastructure has been in place since 2008, administrative barriers have hindered its acceptance.
“This project … has also received a coveted generation license from Nersa, a milestone that similar projects have struggled to achieve,” Haw said.
Nersa’s process requires a signed power purchase agreement and a fully developed project to obtain approval, he explained. “This creates contractual challenges because many inputs, such as the exchange rate, still fluctuate while the application process is ongoing. The high level of development required for the presentation means that Nersa is not licensing projects that are not moving forward, which is a very good thing. “
“Energy Wheeling has tremendous value as it enables the supply of energy to urban areas, which has been generated from energy projects in peripheral areas, such as a solar farm located in an area where the sun is more powerful and consistent. This is done by transferring electrical energy through the transmission or distribution system of a utility company between different service areas of the network or the network. “
Haw described the “wheel system use agreement” as the “largest solar PV wheel arrangement in South Africa to date”.
The SOLA Group developed some of the county’s first independent power producer projects, signed the first two-way metering agreements with municipalities, and was responsible for solar energy and storage projects, such as the microgrid that currently powers Robben Island. – © 2020 NewsCentral Media
