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Teraco, an operator of data centers, has secured its first grid-capacity allocation from South African state-owned utility Eskom. It will soon start building a 120 MW utility-scale PV plant in South Africa’s Free State province to power its facilities.

South African real estate trust Growthpoint Properties has signed an offtake deal with local electricity trader Etana Energy for 195 GWh of renewable energy. The contracted power will be sourced from wind, with a smaller component of hydro and large-scale solar capacity.

While near neighbors, the electricity generation of the countries of Southeast Asia couldn’t be further apart. Indonesia burns locally mined coal; Malaysia has reserves of oil and gas; and populous Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines depend on fossil fuel imports. They could all benefit from increased solar electricity but higher grid capacities and interconnection are key for an opportunity to unlock the power of the sun.

Richards Bay Minerals has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with French renewables developer Voltalia, which plans to build a 148 MW solar project in South Africa’s Limpopo province.

The kingdom has had a ban on new large scale clean energy projects since January 2019 as Covid-19 exacerbated a situation in which generation capacity already outstripped supply. Lifting that embargo, and re-starting renewables auctions would be a step in the right direction, according to IRENA.

With grid capacity a limiting factor, the Middle Eastern country has moved to foster private-to-private solar projects to meet industrial power demand.