New Jo’burg data centre campus to get solar power from N Cape

June 7, 2022 Siyabonga Mtangana

Construction of the first phase of Vantage’s data centre campus in Midrand is under way

Vantage Data Centers, the US company building a sprawling data centre campus in Midrand, Johannesburg, has signed a 20-year energy supply deal with SolarAfrica.

The agreement will allow Vantage to supplement the local grid that will power its under-construction campus, which is expected to open in July, with renewable energy.

The power will be supplied from SolarAfrica’s De Aar solar farm in the Northern Cape, which will be expanded. The electricity will be “wheeled” through the national grid.

Wheeling is when electricity is transferred from its generated source through the power network to be consumed in another location. Very often, the areas where the sun is most powerful and solar PV generates the highest yield are not the same areas where power is required the most, Vantage explained in a statement.

Vantage’s investment will support the production of 87MWp (peak power) of renewable energy and is forecast to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide by an 3.8 million tons over the lifetime of the agreement, it said.

At its completion, Vantage’s Johannesburg campus will have 80MW of IT capacity, of which up to 33% will be supported by the solar farm.

Located at Waterfall City across the N1 freeway from Mall of Africa, the campus is situated on 30 acres of land and will feature three facilities across 60 000sq m once fully developed.