Page 8 - AfrElec Week 06 2023

AfrElec INVESTMENT AfrElec

Teraco Data Environments raises $690mn to

fund growth, build up solar capacity

SOUTH AFRICA TERACO Data Environments, a carrier-neutral As a result of Eskom’s continuing failure
data centre and interconnection services pro- to meet power demand in the country over
vider in South Africa, has raised a ZAR11.8bn the past years, many of the largest businesses
($690mn) to finance further growth, the com- have started to build facilities to gener-
pany said in a statement on January 31. ate their own electricity. Being high power
The syndicated loan, led by South Afri- users, data centres can lower running costs
ca-based lender Absa Group, includes several and reducing emissions through shifting to
large financial institutions, and provides an ave- renewables.
nue for further funding in the future, the com- According to Cisco, Africa is home to
pany said. almost a fifth of the world’s population and We have set a
According to Teraco’s CFO Samuel Erwin, is growing faster than any other continent,
almost half of the loan financing will be used as yet it only accounts for 1% of the world’s target to generate
growth capital to build out the company’s solar data centre capacity. That capacity needs to
capacity and data centres. The rest will be used to be expanded to meet the demand of more half of our power
refinance its current facilities in Johannesburg, people and businesses using the Internet and
Cape Town and Durban. cloud services. from clean energy
“We have set a target to generate half of our Last year’s deal with San Francisco-based sources by 2027,
power from clean energy sources by 2027, and all investor Digital Realty to buy a majority stake
of it by 2035,” Erwin said as cited by Bloomberg. in Teraco valued the company at about $3.5bn, and all of it by
In order to meet that target, Teraco will build a Bloomberg reports.
utility-scale solar farm capable of generating 100 “As we continue our journey, our ESG goals 2035.
MW of power and is adding solar panels to the form the cornerstone of how we grow our busi-
roofs of its data centres. ness, engage with employees and suppliers, sup-
Teraco’s planned expansion will almost dou- port our clients, and minimise our impact on the
ble its data centre capacity to just under 200 MW environment,” says Erwin.
over the next three to four years, Erwin said. Ter- Teraco remains the largest data centre oper-
aco will start building the solar farm once it has ator in Africa, although new entrants such as an
the necessary approvals from the South African American multinational digital infrastructure
government and public utility Eksom to connect company Equinix and Amazon Web Services
it to the grid. are looking to expand on the continent.™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 06 08•February•2023