Vantage Data Centers has signed an 87MWp power purchase agreement (PPA) with SolarAfrica.

The solar energy contract will cover around a third of the energy Vantage expects to consume at its Vantage's upcoming Johannesburg data center campus.

The campus will have 80MW of IT capacity across three facilities in Waterfall City, Joburg. Together, the data centers will span 650,000 square feet (60,000 square meters) once fully developed. The solar farm can produce 87MW in ideal conditions (MW peak or MWp), which means over a year it will produce roughly a third of the energy needed by the site.

“Vantage’s investment in SolarAfrica’s De Aar project reaffirms our continued commitment to sustainability and our drive to reach net zero by 2030,” said Justin Jenkins, chief operating officer of EMEA and president of the UK, at Vantage Data Centers.

“Not only will energy from this investment be used to power our Johannesburg campus, but it will also serve as another example of using solar-driven energy across the data center industry. In the near term, solar energy faces increasing demand, driving prices higher across South Africa. This investment, however, will ensure a stable price for our customers.”

Charl Alheit, SolarAfrica's director, added: “With climate change being the defining challenge of our time, it’s crucial that we accelerate our carbon mitigation efforts to transform our planet into a sustainable green economy.

"We are continually driven to assist our customers in reaching their green energy goals while saving them money in the process. The rollout of the 87MWp solar farm for Vantage’s campus, which will be one of the largest in South Africa, is an exciting step for us as we gear up to help even more businesses save with cheaper, cleaner energy through wheeling.”

Vantage expects to launch the initial 16MW phase of the $1 billion data center project later this year, its first facility in Africa.

In 2020, the company formed Vantage SDC (Stabilized Data Centers) in a $3.5bn joint partnership with DigitalBridge to hold data centers that are fully constructed and with a high and stable tenancy rate that can cover its debt and other costs. Its primary Vantage DC business raised $530 million last November.