Teraco Data Environments Ltd., Africa’s leading data center provider, has announced a significant step towards becoming a 100% renewable energy company by 2035.

Responding to South Africa’s chronic power outages, Teraco has secured an initial $104 million investment from ABSA Group Ltd., financed through a green loan. The funds will be used to construct a 120-megawatt (MW) solar power plant and an 80-MW wind farm in the Free State province, with JUWI Renewable Energies South Africa and Subsolar appointed to develop, design, manage, and commission the solar plant.

This initiative goes beyond securing reliable power for Teraco’s data centers. Thanks to securing the first grid capacity allocation from Eskom, the 120MW solar plant will also inject clean energy across Eskom and municipal power networks to Teraco’s facilities nationwide, contributing to South Africa’s renewable energy goals. When fully operational, the solar plant will produce over 338,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) annually, contributing to South Africa’s renewable energy goals.

State-owned power generation company, Eskom, has had persistent load shedding in recent years that has significantly impacted business operations and the Southern African economy, and forced companies to invest in their own generation facilities.

Jan Hnizdo, CEO at Teraco said the project presents “an incredible opportunity” for Teraco to meet its “near-term renewable energy goals” while adding additional power capacity to South Africa’s grid.

“This 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,” he said.