The City of Ekurhuleni has announced that it has signed an agreement with Teraco to unlock renewable energy wheeling in the metro.
Teraco is Africa’s leading interconnection hub and data centre company.
According to Ekurhuleni mayoral spokesperson Phakamile Mbengashe, the city is host to Africa’s largest data centre, which has a 38MW of critical power load in Ekurhuleni.
The city explained that wheeling is the act of transporting electricity from a generator to a geographically distant end-user through the use of an existing distribution or transmission system.
Wheeling removes potential barriers to significant scale in that renewable energy projects don’t have to be developed and built near the end user where ground or roof space is scarce.
It also enables the deployment of renewable energy projects in high energy yield but low environmental and social impact areas.
“The multi-party coalition government is committed to repositioning Ekurhuleni as the epicentre of sustainable urban development and renewable energy generation in the province.
“As a member of C40 Cities Network, we strive to make meaningful progress towards reducing our dependency on Eskom and directing the city towards a net-zero future,” said the mayor’s office in a statement.
The city pointed out that this milestone agreement provides Teraco with much-needed certainty for its investment into two 100 MW utility-scale solar power generation projects – which, when fully operational, are expected to produce more than 500,000 MWh per annum.
It also enables the company to discuss power purchase agreements to procure renewable energy from independent power producers.
The multi-party coalition government invites the business community in Ekurhuleni to engage the city, through its Energy Department, on potential renewable energy wheeling prospects and other sustainable energy initiatives that may support energy security in the city.
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