120 MW solar project in South Africa: Digital realty company Teraco has started constructing a 120 MW utility-scale solar power plant in the Free State Province of South Africa. To be owned by Teraco, the project will supply renewable energy to its data centers located within the municipalities of Ekurhuleni and Cape Town under Eskom’s wheeling system. The wheeling arrangement enables green energy projects located anywhere in the country to sell power generated to customers in other locations using Eskom’s grid. The 120 MW solar plant is scheduled to come online in late 2026 for which Teraco says it has partnered with juwi and Subsolar. Once fully operational, it is expected to produce more than 354,000 MWh annually. Teraco says through this, it targets to create its own sustainable energy source to power the next generation of client cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) computing applications.
IFC backing for Acumen’s H2R: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has approved an investment in non-profit impact investment fund Acumen’s Hardest-to-reach (H2R) initiative. The IFC called it the ‘1st’ blended finance initiative dedicated to financing household solar systems for the hardest-to-reach populations in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It will support off-grid solar companies through flexible, impact-linked debt and patient capital investment. Since its launch, the H2R initiative has disbursed $10 million across 6 countries. IFC's backing will help it scale this impact. The IFC will invest up to $25 million from its own account to help Acumen de-risk private capital investors in the project and lower the overall cost for the borrowers. Additionally, it intends to mobilize up to $20 million from the IDA Private Sector Window Blended Finance Facility (IDA PSW BFF).
600 MW online in Saudi Arabia: ACWA Power has secured the commercial operation certificate from the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) for its 600 MW Al Shuaibah 1 Solar Photovoltaic Project in Saudi Arabia. ACWA Power is a 35.01% shareholder in the project company with the Saudi Water and Electricity Holding Company (Badeel) as 34.99%, and the Saudi Aramco Power Company (SAPCO) as the 30% stakeholders. The Al Shuaibah I project is located in the Al Shuaibah location in the Makkah Province, alongside the 2.03 GW Al Shuaibah PV 2 project. Both will supply power to the SPPC.
Axian bags €84 million: Pan-African large-scale renewable energy projects developer AXIAN Energy has raised €84 million to build the ‘largest’ solar PV project with added battery energy storage system (BESS) in Senegal’s Kolda region. The Kolda Solar Farm will comprise a 60 MW annual installed capacity and 72 MWh/3 hour BESS capacity. It will provide green electricity to around 235,000 people. The Emerging Africa & Asia Infrastructure Fund (EAAIF) and the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank (FMO) acted as the co-mandated lead arrangers, alongside Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (DEG) for the financing. The power generated will be supplied to the national utility Senelec.
Solar & storage for Brazilian archipelago: The Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) has authorized Neoenergia Pernambuco to add solar PV and storage capacity in the archipelago Fernando de Noronha. It can now go ahead with the installation of a hybrid solar PV plant and battery storage project to ensure reliable and clean power supply for this UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. The Noronha Verde Project is aimed to help the group of islands here to achieve up to 85% decarbonization as these are currently mostly fueled by diesel. The solar and storage capacity will make it the 1st inhabited island in Latin America to achieve this milestone, according to Neoenergia. The BRL 300 million ($51.8 million) project is expected to start operational in early 2027. Neoenergia is majority controlled by Spanish energy giant Iberdrola.