Groundbreaking for a Significant utility-scale renewable wheeling project in South Africa

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The SOLA Group has started construction on a new utility-scale renewable wheeling project in South Africa in the Free State, which it says will be the first to sell power to multiple buyers across the country on flexible terms.

This is how power is traded for sale among private entities in Wheeling, employing the already available distribution facilities.

For the fourteenth time, SOLA has managed to both close and kick-off construction activities for the 320 MW SOLAR RELIABILITY facility within 15 months. SOLA Assets’ head Katherine Persson was quoted saying that the project solidifies SOLA position of South Africa’s leading IPP marketing power to private customers and makes SOLA’s portfolio reach 581 MW of wheeled construction capacity in operation.

Completion date

delivery of power is slated for the mid of the year 2025. SOLA has indicated that it intends to register interested buyers into uncontracted power from now and later in 2024.

The projects in which SOLA has participated illustrate South Africa’s drive towards electricity wheeling.

This is demonstrated by the recent agreement between Eskom and Vodacom South Africa in August which was named a ‘first of its kind’.

Construction cost

construction cost of utility-scale renewable wheeling project in South Africa . In September, the City of Cape Town started its wheeling pilot targeting up to 1,000MW of additional independent grid to put an end to load shedding.

As we developed the virtual wheeling solution together with Eskom, and reached our agreement, it is forecasted that we will transfer about 30% of Vodacom South Africa’s power demand onto renewables, which accounts for a considerable contribution to our renewable energy aspirations according

Scope of the project

Each project has the potential of creating 500 jobs in neighboring communities while the group’s fleet will produce 1.34 terawatt-hours equivalent to electricity supplied to almost 500 thousand houses every year.

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