Africa Data Centres breaks ground on 12MW solar farm

Africa Data Centres (ADC) has broken ground on a solar farm in the Free State in collaboration with DPA Southern Africa.

The farm’s first phase will power ADC’s Cape Town data centre, with further phases planned to serve its Johannesburg facilities.

ADC said the announcement was a crucial component of a twenty-year power purchase agreement signed in March 2023 with DPA Southern Africa.

DPA SA is a joint company of the French utility EDF and Distributed Power Africa. Africa Data Centres is a subsidiary of Cassava Technologies and a sister company of Liquid Intelligent Technologies.

“Today’s announcement represents a significant stride in our initiative to energise South African data centres sustainably, advancing our objective of achieving carbon neutrality,” said Africa Data Centres CEO Tesh Durvasula.

“The first phase involves constructing the 12MW solar infrastructure to power our Cape Town data centre, with subsequent phases extending to our Johannesburg data centres.”

Durvasula said that in addition to procuring renewable energy, they have also earned an ISO50001 certification for their data centres.

“Data centres worldwide face scrutiny for their reliance on grid power and renewables, and Africa is no exception,” said Durvasula.

“Africa Data Centres is actively addressing this issue by generating renewable energy, alleviating strain on the local grid.”