South African telecom operator Telkom has released a tender for the design and construction of a three megawatt solar-powered plant at Telkom Park in Pretoria
The solar park is part of Telkom’s Centralised Energy Centre Project, where it strives to produce its own electricity and reduce reliance on Eskom.
The specific plant will be tapped for solar power meant for the company’s parking area, which will be the first step towards producing almost all of its own electricity.
The construction of Telkom’s Centralised Energy Centre Project is part of Africa’s larger plan to generate 100GW of solar power by 2030. “Africa’s greatest growth challenge is energy, and there’s a serious need to quickly get additional generation capacity in place to meet increasing energy demands,” said Renewable Energy Corporation senior vice-president for EMEA Luc Graré.
Currently, the total nameplate capacity of all electricity generation from all sources on the entire continent sits at just 143GW, of which South Africa provides 45GW according to statistics gathered from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
